


A New Start

by HinaSaku



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Falling In Love, Family, Family Bonding, Father Figures, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fatherhood, Friendship, Girl Saves Boy, Just Friends, Love, Male-Female Friendship, Walkers (Walking Dead)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-11
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-01-16 00:13:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 26,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12331650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HinaSaku/pseuds/HinaSaku
Summary: Lee is given a second chance to relive his life and start all over again from the St. John farm. With the knowledge he has of the future, Lee decides to make things turn out for the better.





	1. Chapter 1

Lee didn't think he would be going out like this and he hated it had to be this way. Poor Clementine...what would happen to her once she left him? Would she find Omid and Christa or would someone else find her? He hoped whoever had her would take care of her. The kid had been like his own daughter for quite some time now. He hated that he had gotten bit and could no longer care for her. Her parents were gone and she had nobody left as Kenny was probably dead or a walker, Carley was dead for sure, Katjaa was dead, and damn near everyone else he met so far that would be willing to care for her was dead as well. The only people he could think back that probably could care for her were Molly and he hadn't the slightest clue where she was. For all she knew, she could be on the other side of Savannah or dead herself. He didn't know. What did it matter now though? He was dying and soon he would be turning as he really didn't want to put the poor girl through anymore pain of seeing someone else gone. Maybe he should have gotten the kid to put a bullet through him. It was getting too painful to bare at the moment and he wished he had something to end his pain himself.

Then his vision started fading and all noise seemed to just stopped. He started having a hard time to breath as well. As soon as everything went dark, the next thing Lee heard was yelling a few minutes late. Who was that? It sounded familiar. Who was that? Was that...Lilly? And the other voices that he was starting to hear. It sounded like Larry and Kenny as well. He could also hear a faint voice as well over all the yelling...actually it was more whimpering. Clementine? Clementine! Lee's eyes slowly began to open and when he finally was able to look around, he found himself in a very familiar place. They were in the very same room where the St. Johns had them captured inside of being they escaped. Was...was all that just a dream? If him dying was a dream, it was a horrifying and extremely realistic one. And his arm...it was back!

Lee looked at his now arm in childish wonder. It felt strange having his arm back, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He wasn't dead, his arm was back, and Clementine...she was still here with him and safe! So to speak at least. She was with him, yes, but she's wasn't completely safe at the moment. They still had the St. John brothers and their mother to deal with. As Lee soaked in his surroundings, he came to the realization that the dream was one of two different things. The "dream" was either the real thing and Lee was given a second chance to save himself and anyone else he cared about. The second conclusion he came to was that it was a dream to show him a possible future. Either way, he was going to take what he could get and change things for the better, for himself, Clementine, and all the people they had lost on the way.


	2. Chapter 2

Lee was quick to rack his brain for a solution. Now if he was right that the "dream" predicting the future or he had actually lived it and was getting a second chance, he had used some kind of coin to get the air conditioner in the room open. But where on earth did he get a coin from? He checked his pockets for one. None there. Where the heck would he get one from? Then he thought of it. When locked inside of the locker room, Kenny had bashed in Larry's head with a salt lick while Lee had held Lilly back from getting harmed herself. Afterwards he had gone into the man's pockets and grabbed the change from Larry's pockets. As much as he hated to ask him, he had to if he wanted to get all of them out as soon as possible before things escalated quickly. Too bad Larry hated him, something he knew he couldn't change.

"Larry, I need a coin of some kind." He hoped Larry wasn't going to be difficult, especially not in their condition at the moment. The faster he complied, the faster they could get out.

"What the fuck are you asking me for change for?" He yelled as he turned to face Lee. "We need to get the fuck out of here before they fucking eat us!"

"Just hand it over unless you want to die!" said Lee. He couldn't help but to remember the vivid memory of Larry having a heart attack and then Kenny bashing the guy's head in with a salt lick at that moment. He knew Larry would just think he was crazy if he told him this which is why he kept his mouth shut about it.

"And how the hell is money supposed to help us? In case you haven't noticed, we're stuck in a damn meat locker and..."

"I know that!" He pointed over at the air conditioner. "That air conditioner over there has some screws that can easily be opened with some coins. Clementine can slip in and open the door."

"And how do you know that? For all you know those fuckers could be on the other side."

"They're not. Just gave them here! Do you think you have have the time to not take risks?"

"Just give them to him, dad," said Lilly. "We need to get out of here and it's worth a try."

"Fine." Larry gave Lee whatever change was in his pockets.

Lee quickly unscrewed the bolts from the air conditioner successfully and Kenny helped him move it. Now it was time for Clementine's part. He asked her to go through the vent which the child was terrified to do. He assured her nothing bad would happen and that their safety depended on her getting out and opening the door from the other side. She hesitated a little while before agreeing to go through with it. He picked her up and she slipped on through. Lee still worried about her safety because what if he was wrong? What if the brothers were still outside at this point? He immediately began regretting his choice to just send the girl on her way and possibly to her death.

'What have I just done? I probably got her caught!' He panicked on the inside. 'Maybe I was wrong. I was given this chance to start over or not make the same mistakes again but am I making different ones?'

Then the door opened revealing Clementine had been successful with getting out. "Nobody saw you, did they?"

It was possible that someone could have given how around this point Larry was on the floor, suffering from his heart attack. To his relief she shook her head.

"No, but there's a man outside."

"Lilly, can you and Larry stay behind and watch Clementine?" Lee asked Lilly. "Kenny and I will..."

"To hell you will!" said Larry. "I want a piece of those of those fuckers as much as you two do!"

"You're not in any condition to do anything. Do you really want to have a heart attack right when you're trying to fight them?"

"Don't you dare tell me what to do!"

Lilly grabbed her father's shoulder. "Dad, you know how your heart gets when you're mad. Just stay here and calm down."

"How the hell can I when those bastards...?!"

"Dad, your heart! Take a deep breath and calm down!" said Lilly. "You know you don't have your pills with you."

"I don't give a damn!" Larry stormed out of the room ready to kill the brothers. Lilly started to chase after her father when Lee told her that he'd watch him after him. He doubted he'd be able to stop him from doing anything stupid, but he'd sure as heck would try. Lilly couldn't blame him if something happened to the hot headed fool. Then again Lee could understand why Larry didn't want to listen. He had eaten some of the "food" and had been fooled just like the rest of them into thinking the pair were nice people. Still the guy was in no condition to do anything with heart problems.

They went into the back room where they found what was a human slaughtering house. Blood was everywhere and organs in jars that Lee knew belonged to some poor human. Though Lee had already came across the site before, it still made him sick at the site. There was no telling how many unfortunate people the bastards had captured and then turned into dinner here. They were going to put an end to it now or rather again considering Lee was reliving this a second time.

"I told you there was something up with this room!" Kenny said as he observed the large blood stains. "It's a human slaughterhouse back here!"

"No shit, genuis," said Larry.

"No time for arguing!" hissed Lee. "And keep it down. Do you want them to hear us?"

"Maybe I do so I can kill them!"

"How the hell are you going to do that? Last time I checked neither of us have guns. They do so unless you wanna get shot before you get your revenge, keep talking and get Lilly killed as well."

Larry started to retort only to just scowl and keep silent, knowing Lee was right. He was pissed that the three of them had feed them human meat and planned to do the same to them, but just going out there to kick ass with the other parties having a gun was pretty stupid. He wasn't going to admit that to Lee of all people though that he was wrong.

Lee grabbed a sickle and headed to where Kenny was crouched down and peeping out of the door. "That dumbass is so caught up in his rant we could probably sneak up on him. When we get to him, all three of us should be able to take him down and grab the gun."

"Sounds like a plan." agreed Lee.

The three of them creeped toward Danny St. John as silently as they could. He was just sitting on a bale of hay with his gun leaning against it. All they had to go was grab it while Larry grabbed the man and took him down. Lee couldn't help but to be glad Larry was around and for him to be as gigantic as he was. Just as they were a foot or two away, his brother showed up. Lee had forgotten about him! Kenny and Larry cursed and all three went into a stable to avoid being seen.

"What the fuck is he doing out there?" whispered Kenny.

"I don't know," Lee thought for a few seconds. "I'm going to see what they're doing."

Lee peeked outside and saw Danny setting a trap outside a little ways away from the entrance of the barn. That's right! Danny had gotten caught in the trap. His own trap at that.

"What's he doing now?" Larry asked.

"He's set a trap in the barn a little ways away from the entrance."

"Why the hell would he do that for?"

"The bastard must know we're out or it's for the others." guessed Larry.

"See what's going on now."

Lee knew what was coming next and he was ready. He opened up the door and faced the barrel of Danny's shotgun facing him. He grabbed it and turned it upwards just as he was about to shoot him. As he was scrambling to reload the gun, Lee stabbed him with a sickle. Danny knocked him down with his gun and was about to shoot him again when Larry opened the door of the stable, the gun flew out of his hands, and the man took him down with one punch. As soon as he was down, Larry made for the gun.

"Where's my family, asshole!" He demanded while Larry pointed the gun at him.

"You can't have 'em! We need the vet." Just then Kenny could hear Katjaa cry out "No!" which made Kenny run out of the barn to go to his wife. Lee ran off after him and he had barely even left the barn when he heard a gunshot going off behind him, knowing that Larry killed Danny.

Lee remembered killing the man himself the first time and he didn't care Larry had done it now. The bastard did deserve it after all. What happened after they faced Danny before? Oh right. They had Katjaa in the house and Duck was somewhere. He snuck up the stairs of the house, going low so she wouldn't have a clear shot of him.

"Danny is that you out there?" Brenda walked up to the screen door of the house. "What's going on out there?"

"Where's Katjaa and her son?" Brenda left the door and went back to where ever she had Katjaa. When he got up to the door, she had one arm around Katjaa and the other hand had a gun in it.

"Don't you dare come in here Lee!" Brenda shouted as she shifted to in front of the stairs. "You just had to go snooping around, did you?"

"Brenda, you don't want to do this. You know you don't want to!"

"Just go away and leave us be!" she said with a frightened voice. Lee slowly went forward anyways. He had to do this like he did before as to not get himself killed or Katjaa as well. "Stop right there! I mean it!"

"Think of your husband, Brenda!" said Lee calmly. "Would he have wanted the dairy turned into a slaughterhouse?"

Brenda backed up a bit as she pressed the gun against Katjaa's head. 'That's right. Keep backing up so Mark can kill you.'

Lee inched forward until she pointed the gun again at him. "Stay back! Don't do anything stupid!"

"What happened? Your family was obviously smart! How did it come to this?"

"Just stop!" She backed up and Lee went forward until she pointed her gun at him. "I don't want to kill you, Lee!"

"This dairy was your pride! Look at what you've done to it!" She shook her head as she shakily pointed her gun at Lee. She then pointed the gun back at the vet and backed up until Mark caught her by surprise and suck his teeth into her neck. Katjaa was able to get free and ran got down the stairs to Lee.

"They took Duck! Where's Kenny?"

Before Lee could tell her that he didn't know, they heard Andy shouting at Kenny. Katjaa ran outside to find that Andy had Duck. Lee was about to run off after her when he figured out how he didn't have to deal with Andy physically. He recovered the gun Brenda had and aimed for Andy while he was distracting with a now injured Kenny, who had us gotten shot by Andy, and his family. He shout him right in the head and the man fell. Lee sighed with relief. All of them were dead now. Now to retrieve the others and go home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After rewatching the 2nd episode, I noticed Lee didn't even try going for Brenda's gun. Probably because he was in too much in a hurry.


	3. Chapter 3

As soon as he got down from the porch, Lee saw Ben and Carley. He had to resist the urge to hug Carley and never let her go. The last time he had seen her she...he shook it off. She was alright now and she was going to be that way as long he could help it. At least make sure that Lilly didn't snap again at the RV and kill her. Speaking of that situation, he still had to deal with Ben and before that it was time for the stranger or at least his car.

"What's going on here?" asked Carley. "We heard shouting and gun shots. Is anyone hurt?"

"Just Kenny's hurt," said Lee. "Mark's dead."

"Dead? What happened? Where are the St. Johns?"

"I'll explain on the way," said Lee. "The fences are down and we need to get out of here before we're overwhelmed by zombies."

Everyone quickly left and went on their way. Lee explained to Carley the situation. It felt overwhelming walking with the woman side by side once again. He could still see her falling to the ground after Lilly shot her right in the head out of anger. Now it just seemed like he was living in a dream. No matter how much he pinched himself, he still couldn't believe he was here with her and everyone else that had either died, or at least in Kenny and Lilly's case, disappeared to unknown fate.

"Hey, you there Lee?" She waved a hand in front of her face.

"Oh yeah. Sorry."

"It'll be alright. They're dead now so at least they're no longer a threat...right?"

"Of course. Larry shot Danny and I shot Andy. Mark handled Brenda for us. I honestly wish I could have saved him too."

"So do I. Imagine being in the same situation as him and then having your legs being served for dinner."

"And Clementine almost ate his legs. I still get sick just thinking about it." He shivered.

"Did anybody else do it?"

"Everyone did except me and Clementine. If I hadn't went to go wash up, we all would have and possibly still had been on the next menu."

"Yeah. You know I'm sorry for leaving the motel unattended. You all were just gone for so long. I got worried."

"It's okay. If things had gotten even more chaotic back there, I know you would have had our backs."

Carly reached inside of her back pocket and handed a camera to Lee, who already knew what was on the tape but he wasn't going to tell her how he knew. "Here. Katjaa found this. It was with your stuff."

"I found it while I was looking for the people who shot Mark. Do you want it?"

"Why don't you keep it? Sometimes it helps to have something to document your thoughts on."

Lee merely nodded and noticed Kenny was bent over in pain with Katjaa giving him a look of concern. He also noticed Clementine was falling behind the others. "Clementine, come on. Stay close to me."

'That's what got her in trouble in the first place,' He couldn't help but to think to himself. Even though Clementine had been fooled into thinking that the guy had her parents, she still needed to be in his eye site at all times. While he was at it, he needed to do a few things. Teach her how to shoot, cut her hair, teach her about how to not trust strangers, something he wasn't sure she quite understood or if she had even been taught such at all, and other ways to survive. Even if she didn't like the things she taught, it would save her and even himself.

"Lee, are those bad people dead?" She asked quietly.

"Yes. They won't hurt you or anyone else ever again," He assured her.

"That's good." She sounded relieved. He couldn't help but to hear that bastard voice again, telling him off for doing so. As if he wouldn't have done the same.

Then he heard just what he had been waiting for. Duck called over to his dad about the car. The same car that started it all. The same car that belonged to the man indirectly got him killed. The same bastard that tricked Clementine into thinking that he had her family. One of two things would happen now. Either they were going to take the food and get that fucker wanting revenge or they could leave it be and the stranger would leave them alone.

"There's a shit load of food and supplies back here!" Kenny said as he observed the truck of the car.

"This food could save all of us." said Katjaa.

"We don't know if these people are dead." pointed out Ben.

"Dead or not, they're fucking morons for leaving all this stuff here unattended." said Larry. "I say we take it for ourselves."

"This stuff isn't ours." said Clementine.

"Dad, who's car is this?" Duck turned to his father.

"Don't worry about that, Duck. It's ours now."

"It's abandoned, Ducky." reassured Katjaa. "Don't worry."

"What if it's not abandoned?" piped up Clementine. "What if it is someone's?"

"Clementine's right. We can't take this," said Lee. He knew better than anyone what would happen if this stuff was stolen. He just didn't know how to say it without sounding like a nut.

"Are you kidding me?" said Kenny in disbelief. "Did you get some meal back there the rest of us didn't? We have to take this stuff!"

"We don't have to do anything. There's some guy or woman...hell there might be a whole family or group out there who needs this stuff and we can't take that away from them."

"If they need it so badly, why did the idiots guard it then?" questioned Larry. As much as Lee disliked the strange man for kidnapping Clementine and given him bitten as a result, he valued keeping Clementine safe over all else even that meant they had to go hungry.

"I don't know, but do we really want some pissed off people after us?"

"I don't see anybody out here. Do you dumb ass?"

'If only you knew, Larry,' thought Lee.

"We're taking this stuff whether you like it or not," said Kenny.

Lee could only watch on with Clementine as she slipped her hand into his. Lee gave her hand a tight squeeze. While everyone was just doing it just to survive, Lee didn't find it worth it since it would mean the stranger would be after them now. If only the guy had stayed with the damn car or anything but have it here. Things were going to be different now though. He had the knowledge of the future to know what to do.

"Lee, I found some batteries for your camcorder," said Carley as she held up some batteries. "And I have some more for your walkie talkie, Clementine."

"NO!" He then began clearing his throat as Clementine and Carley gave him a surprised looks. He hadn't meant to have an outburst like that. "I mean no thanks. I'd rather not have those batteries. Keep 'em for something more important."

"Uh are you okay Lee?" she gave him a concerned look.

"I'm fine. I just don't want them for Clementine. Someone might try talking to her through her radio and try harming her or the group."

"Isn't it broken though?"

"I don't care. Just put it with the other stuff. She doesn't need them okay?" Lee said in a "that's final" voice leaving no more room for Carley to say anything else.

Carley just sent Lee a confused look but went on her way. Neither female knew why Clementine couldn't have the batteries when she stated her radio was broken. Clementine wanted them, but that look on Lee's face told her she wasn't getting them anytime soon. She just guessed it had something to do with what happened to the St. John brothers which is why he wanted to be more careful with what he did from now on.

Two days later, Lee did what he had to do. He timed it to the time where it was a day before he and Kenny headed to the pharmacy for another trip. This time he was going to make sure they grabbed everything they needed to take with them on the road. If the bandits were going to attack them anyways, he'd be sure to make sure the supplies they gather went with them. When they had left the first time, none of them had anything except the clothes on their backs. That way it was days before Lilly originally announced that someone had been taking supplies.

He approached the teenager who was sitting with the kids with the kids who were drawing. "Ben, I need to talk with you for a minute."

"Okay. What's up?"

"Actually I need to do it away from the kids, if you don't mind." Ben looked confused as to why they couldn't talk about whatever with them around but left with Lee upstairs and to his room. Part of him wonder if he was in trouble or if Lee was the one to be kicking him out of the group. He hoped not. Where would he go if they were? "What did you want me to talk about?"

"I know what you've been doing and I want it to stop right now."

"What?"

"You heard me, Ben. I know for a fact that you've been talking medicine from the supplies and giving them to those assholes in the woods!" He said bluntly.

"What are you talking about? I didn't..." Lee stopped him.

"Ben, you're not making it any easier making excuses for yourself."

"I didn't do anything!" said Ben and Lee could see through him like glass.

"Yes you did and you can claim you hadn't all you want. I've got proof." He held up a brown bag full of medicine.

"Well it wasn't me." Ben avoided his eyes.

"Ben, just stop it. I understand why you did it. Here's the thing. Your friend isn't with them and he never was." said Lee. "They were doing it just to get you to do what they want. If one of your friends were really with them, don't you think you would have seen them by now?"

Ben was quiet for a few seconds. "How did you...?"

"It doesn't matter how I know or why I know. What matters is that you don't pull this shit again!" said Lee. "You're lucky it wasn't Lilly that caught you. You know what? Fuck it. You're lucky Larry did find out. It'll probably be a lot worse with him. At least Lilly'll let you talk first."

Lee thought for a minute. "What time do they usually come for the medicine. You better tell me the truth before I tell Lilly and you know how she is about the supplies, especially medicine."

"Fine...but what if..."

"Like I said, if they really had him, they'd show it wouldn't they? You can't always trust people who say things like that. Ever heard of stranger danger, Ben?"

Ben paused for a second. "Fine. I usually take a piece of pink chalk and draw an X on the side of the the motel to let them know it's there."

"Good boy."

"You...you aren't going to tell Lilly are you?" Ben asked nervously. Lilly would for sure kick him out. Hell she would probably do a lot worse especially with her father influencing her. Larry would be more than willing to actually feed him to the walkers or flat out shoot him with even considering how the others felt about it.

"Ben, I know you did it because you honestly believe they have your friend with them, but it was still stupid and I know you won't be dumb enough to do it again." He crossed his arms and gave him a stern look. "Right?"

Ben didn't answer him. Lee repeated himself. "Right?"

"Right."

"Good. Do it again and I will let Lilly deal with you and we both don't want that do we?"

"But what about the bandits? If they don't get their stuff then..."

"Let me worry about that. Just behave yourself alright?" Lee didn't want to see Ben dead, again, as he believed deep down he was a good kid. He just made stupid decisions out of fear. "I'll put the supplies back where you had them. They can have them now, but only because I want to delay this whole thing. Besides, it's too dangerous to put it back anyhow. Pretty sure Lilly's noticed they're missing and it on strict watch."

Lee went back outside of the gate again and put the sack back where it belonged. If he tried putting them back, he would run into Larry who was guarding the main supplies at the moment and he hadn't the slightest clue where Lilly kept the supplies she mentioned as having that was getting messed with. He really didn't feel like dealing with the old bastard at the moment or him questioning where he got the items from. He wouldn't doubt it if the man had been told by Lilly about the missing items and was sure his name had come up plenty of times. For now the bandits could have the medicine just for today since the medicine seemed to be the thing that kept them from attacking the motel. Tomorrow he knew it would be a different story all together.

The next day Lee and Kenny went back over to his parents' pharmacy pick back up medicine again. Lee had convinced Kenny to go with him that day by mentioning the possibility of someone getting supplies from there and how they needed to grab more just in case. He knew Kenny wasn't completely healed up for the trip, but he wasn't the last time either. Lee knew it wouldn't be long before the bandits showed up to the motel pissed their last package wasn't where it was supposed to be. They needed all the things they needed so they could get out of there and soon.

He made sure Clementine still had no batteries just to be safe and had not found any thank goodness. Now he had to make sure Duck wasn't bitten and Katjaa wasn't as well. At the same time, how would he deal with Larry and Lilly and the whole taking drugs thing? He didn't want Ben dead and he sure as heck didn't want Carley to die like she did before. He knew for a fact Larry would make things a lot worse given his attitude and influence over Lilly. He'd get to that later.

"So where do you come down on stayin' or goin'?" Kenny interrupted Lee's thoughts.

"You mean packing up everything and jumpin' in the RV?"

"Yeah. We've been talking about it, but you have you made up your mind on it?"

"We should go," said Lee. "The motel's not really a safe place for any of us, but I know Larry and Lilly will want to stay there. She says it all the time that we should."

"Damn right it's not safe," he agreed. "We should all pile up inside and not stop until we see water. If they're so intent on staying, let 'em."

Lee agreed with him. Speaking of Lilly, where did she go after she ran off with the RV? It was unlikely she went back to the motel after it was overrun with walkers. If she had, she sure as heck wasn't getting any sleep living by herself with her having to constantly keep watch. Was she dead or did she find somewhere to live? With Larry around now, what was going to happen to the two of them now?

Kenny climbed up the ladder of the truck's trailer and the ladder bent slightly. Lee pulled on it and the whole ladder came loose. Already knowing what to do, Lee grabbed the winch off the front of the army vehicle and attached it to the trailer axle. Afterward, he flipped the switch and the jeep slowly pulled itself over to the trailer.

"Your girl still upset with me for taking stuff out of that car last week?" asked Kenny.

"No shit and quite frankly I am too." said Lee. "You just don't know what you did."

"I know what I did and I don't regret it," said Kenny in an irritated tone. "What's done is done. Get over it."

'If the same thing happens again, I won't.' He thought back at him.

As long as Clementine didn't get those batteries, she'd be safer or was she? What if the guy was actually observing them right now and they didn't even know it? It was possible given how he had been able to follow them all the way to Savannah and seen Lee in the back yard of the house they had been in. Then again maybe it had been the help of the radio since he doubted he just jumped into the train and was able to keep up them that way unless he had a map. However he did it, he wouldn't be getting his revenge directly through Clementine anytime soon.


	4. Chapter 4

When they got over the trailer, Lee and Kenny headed inside of the pharmacy. A few walkers were out that day and were pretty far off from the pharmacy, making their job a lot easier. While inside, Lee decided he may as well speak to Kenny about the kids. He was planning on teaching the girl how to use a gun and Duck would need to use a lesson on gun safety as well. If he really cared about Duck's safety, Kenny would teach the kid how to shoot a gun. Duck needed to know how to care for himself just in case something happened to either of his parents or he got separated from them. Then again Kenny could possibly deny that was ever going to happen.

"You know Kenny I've been thinking about teaching Clementine to shoot a gun," said Lee as he picked up a bottle of medicine.

"Really? She's a bit young isn't she?"

"Of course she is, but you gotta remember there are dead people walking around eating each other and creating more of them," pointed out Lee. "She can't afford not to especially since you have to take into account the more villainous folks out there."

"I suppose you're right," said Kenny thinking of the Saint Johns. "I don't know if Lilly'd let her have one though and you'd have a hard time convincing her to do so."

"Still wouldn't hurt to teach her. She might end up saving our asses someday." He shrugged. It was possible she could. Hell she actually had when he went to go save her from the stranger.

"Well it's up to you if you wanna do it." He shrugged.

"What about you?" Here came the hard part or maybe it would be easy depending on his stance on it. He silently prayed Kenny wouldn't put up too much of a fight against the idea.

"What about me? You want me to teach her?" inquired Kenny. Lee was an alright shot himself. Maybe he wasn't sure how to go about it. He'd be better off asking Carley since she was superior when it came to shooting than any of them.

"No. I mean aren't you going to teach Duck?"

"My kid? With a gun? Are you serious?" Kenny sounded as if he was about to laugh about it.

"Of course I am." Lee wondered if it was a bright idea to bring it up after all. "Duck has as much right to learn as Clementine does."

Kenny was quiet for a moment. "I don't know Lee. I'll think about and Katjaa...I know she won't like it. She's already not a fan of guns and imagine her reaction of me letting our 10 year old son handle one."

"I know she doesn't like that we have to carry guns, but it's what's necessary."

"What if he gets the wrong idea about it, that he can shoot any walker he wants or somethin'?"

"Then teach him there's a time and place to use guns." Kenny seemed to think it over as they continued to grab the items. As they worked in silence, Lee wondered if he should tell Kenny about Ben taking drugs and giving them to the bandits. Should he? Kenny would be pissed but not as pissed as Lilly would be. He'd just tell him on the way back while Kenny was thinking on teaching his son how to use a gun.

When everything was gathered up and they went back home, Lee dropped it on him. "There's something I been meaning to tell you."

"What is it?"

He took a deep breath. "Now don't go strangling the kid when we get back, alright?"

"Who? Duck?" Kenny frowned. "Is that why you asked about teaching him to use a gun? Did you catch him with one? How'd he get it? Don't tell me you gave him one!"

"Not Duck. If he had one, you'd be the first one to know." He shook his head. "It's about Ben."

He then explained how he had found a paper bag full of medicine that Ben had taken from the supplies. "He took medicine? I sure as hell didn't notice!"

"That's because he's been taking it from Lilly's private stash. I guess it's a back up one."

"How'd he even get to it?" Kenny knew Lilly kept a pretty strict watch over the supplies and expected everyone to do the same. Ben either had to do some serious sneaking to get some medicine or pretended to get sick and take extra. Besides food, medicine was the most coveted thing they had. Anything going missing wasn't something they could afford.

"I didn't ask and I don't really think it matters at the moment," confessed Lee.

"Why the hell would that moron give 'em our medicine? He knows we need that stuff or at least will need it."

"He thought they had his friend."

"Did they?" It still wasn't a very good excuse but he hoped it was worth it to the little shitbird.

"No."

"That fuckin' shitbird. Have you told Lilly yet?" He shook his head.

"We don't need to get Lilly involved especially when it includes her father," said Lee remembering all too clearly how things went down with just Lilly there. Larry would just make things worse for everyone else outside of Ben. "He made a stupid mistake. We just have to keep a closer eye on him from now on."

"We should kick the little shithead out of the group," grumbled Kenny. "He's been here, for what? A few days and he's already making huge mistakes! None of us may be sick now, but what about later? Kids get sick easier you know. That asshole was just thinking of himself."

"I won't deny that, but he did think they had his friend. People'll do some crazy and stupid shit just to save their friends or family and sometimes to even see them again. Heck they could be in denial the whole time knowing what they're doing won't do shit." He could think of a few examples, Kenny being one of those examples. When Duck was bitten, he kept thinking his son was fine and kept refusing to accept the fact that Duck was going to turn if they didn't do anything. The trip would have ended in tragedy if they didn't stop. Duck would have ended up turning and potentially killing his own mom if not Clementine, Ben, or himself while Kenny and Chuck were up front.

"I guess, but the idiot should still be punished for it." said Kenny.

"He will be. Just not shot and killed."

"Who says anybody'll do that?" Kenny was shocked he would bring that up.

"Larry! Remember when he wanted to kill your son because he thought Duck got bitten?" Oh Kenny remembered. How could he forget? That's why he disliked the bastard in the first place. Meanwhile what Lee just said was the second thing he just thought of as the first was how Lilly had shot Carley.

"Yeah I remember. Seems like something he would do. Remember when he knocked you flat on your ass and left you to die?"

"I remember. He's an ungrateful bastard and heartless towards anyone that's not Lilly." He thought about how in the alternate timeline he had a choice to either try saving Larry and helping Kenny bash his head in to keep him from turning. Even though Lee had saved him the first time, Larry wanted to leave him behind. He was sure if he had saved him from Kenny bashing his head in, Larry would still be an ungrateful fucker.

"The guy's heartless for sure and his daughter goes along with everything," scoffed Kenny. "Hard to tell if she'll ever disagree with the old bastard or even try stopping him."

"Yeah," He nodded. He realized something. When the bandits didn't get their medicine, they came after them. "Shit."

"What?"

"It's been real quiet these past few days," observed Lee. He hoped Kenny got the hint.

"Yeah, those bandits were pretty quiet," agreed Kenny.

"A little too quiet."

Kenny got quiet for a minute before realizing what Lee meant. "Wait a minute, do you think Ben giving those bastards in the woods medicine had something to do with it?"

"It has to be." There was no doubt about it. There was a reason they were called bandits after all. If given the perfect chance, they would attack them. With Ben paying them off with medicine, they'd keep quiet until they ran out and didn't get their next delivery.

"You sure you don't want him kicked out?"

"I'm sure. I say we make him make up for it, but first we need to deal with the bandits."

"How the hell are you going to warn Lilly about it without telling her about the shitbird?"

"I say we lie to her about it. Just say they plan on launching a huge attack on us," He said after appearing to give it some thought. Truth be told he had already come up with such for a while now but wanted Kenny to think he was just thinking on it. "We tell her on our way back from going scavenging in the woods, we saw overheard them plotting."

"Sounds like a plan," said Kenny. Lee was happy Kenny had agreed with his plan. That went much better than expected. "As long as nothing happens to the kids and Katjaa, I can live with that."

"Good. Okay that's the last thing, we should get going," said Lee as he took the last energy bar off of the shelf.

When they left, Kenny asked Lee what he had in mind for Ben. Lee honestly didn't even know. They already mostly had him babysitting the kids since all other jobs were taken by the older members of the group. What else could he do? "We'll decide later. For now let's just take care of those bandits."

When they got back, luckily Lilly believed it and everyone prepared for any attack from the bandits. The kids were on the top floor with Ben while everyone else was hiding in different places, keeping their eyes on different places in the camp. On cue, the bandits did show up and one of them moved the dumpster only to quickly get shot by Kenny. The shooting went on back and forth for a while until all of them were either ran off or were killed. Just as before, walkers came into the camp having been attracted by the sounds of gunfire. The walkers quickly overran the motel since they were more worried about the bandits.

"Shit walkers!" shouted Carley as a few walkers pushed down the one of the walls while three of them grabbed a bandit. They managed to fire a couple or more shots before more walkers started coming more into the camp. It was a good idea that the kids were in the upstairs rooms hiding and that they knew about the bandits so they could stop them. Now that the bandits were taken care of, they quickly killed off the walkers and set back up the fence and pushed the dumpsters back into place. While the group cleaned up the after math, Carley approached Lee.

"Good thing you guys heard those guys talking," said Carley as she checked the pockets of a bandits along side him. "Otherwise we probably would have been fucked."

"Yeah," Carley just didn't know know how true that was. He was just grateful none of them had been caught off guard this time. "But we might not next time. It's things like this that make me want to leave this place more and more. It's not safe here. The walls are short, sooner or later the food will run out, anything left in town will be picked clean, we don't really have any kind of outside food source that will fill us up or at least keep us going, and this place is falling apart. I don't know about you, but I hope Kenny gets that RV up and running soon."

"Where would you head though?" asked Carley. "It's not like we can just scout out places to go."

"Kenny reckons we'll head on a boat," said Lee. He looked over to where Kenny was. He was dragging out a walker outside of the lot. "Don't tell Kenny but I highly doubt there are any boats. At least there probably aren't any large ones that will fit all of us."

"I wouldn't doubt it myself," agreed Carley. "Are you planning on following him to the ocean?"

"I'm more willing to head to Savannah," shrugged Lee. Even though he knew Clementine's family was already dead, he still wanted to go there for the food supplies. Fishing didn't sound like a bad idea.

"Isn't that where Clementine's parents are?" asked Carley. He nodded. "Do you think they're okay? I know she worries about them a lot."

"No, I don't," admitted Lee. "If they're alive, that's great. If not, at least Clementine will know what happened to them. She deserves the closure."

"True. Poor girl."

After they managed to clean up the lot, Lee checked up on the kids. Clementine was relieved to hear nobody got hurt while Duck went off with his mother. Lee thanked Ben for staying inside with Clementine and Duck. Just as he was about to leave the room with his ward, Ben called out Lee's name. "Yeah?"

"Um are you going to tell Lilly what really happened?" He asked nervously. So far Lilly hadn't said something to him, but that didn't mean now that everything was over with, Lee wouldn't tell Lilly what really happened.

"At the moment, no," said Lee. "My ass is on the line as well for covering up for you, Ben. If Lilly finds out I didn't tell her what you did especially since it deals with medicine, she'll have both our asses. So no. I'm not. It's between me and you."

"So you didn't tell anyone else?"

"I only told Kenny," admitted Lee. "He agrees you should be punished as well."

He gulped. "H-he does?"

"Yeah. Now what to do with you still reminds, ya know," said Lee.

"Please don't kick me out, Lee!" begged Ben. "I-I don't want to be alone out there! I'll get bitten or killed or...or...or even raped! Please don't send me out there to fend myself."

"Whoa, now!" He put a hand on Ben's shoulder. "Calm down, Ben. I'm not going to make you go out into the woods. If I wanted that, don't you think I'd tell Lilly about you?"

"I-I guess..." He still looked uncertain. Lee had a point and he had been incredibly kind to him so far considering how he almost got them all killed and gave up much needed medicine.

Lee was a nice guy and he wanted to believe him. He really did. However there was still the doubt that if he did indeed fuck up again, Lee might kick him out. Why was Lee trying so hard to keep him in the group anyways? Medicine was a precious item right next to food. He was lucky the former teacher had been the one to find out about his deal with the bandits. Otherwise he would be dead or out on his own with nothing to protect himself.

"Now be on your best behavior," said Lee. "I mean it."

When Lee got outside, Clementine and Duck were playing with their soccer ball, Lilly and Larry were talking outside of her room, Katjaa was watching the kids, and Kenny was looking over the fence while Carley was looking at the trash cans. Lee went over to her.

"Carley, do you have some scissors?"

"Scissors? Why do you need scissors for?" asked Carley.

"I need to cut Clementine hair. I don't want her getting grabbed by her hair again," he explained. "If it's cut, she stands less of a chance of getting grabbed, be it by a walker or a person."

"Sounds reasonable. I think I still have them from when I borrowed them from Katjaa. You can use those."

"Great. Thanks." They went up to her room and she handed over the scissors.

"You do know how to use these, don't you?" The brunette said in a teasing voice. "Wouldn't want her hair getting cut too short."

"Of course I do. This isn't the first time I've cut someone's hair," He wasn't lying when he said this unknown to Carley. When he got downstairs, he called over Clementine and brought her into his room. When he told her that he was cutting her hair, her hands instantly flew to her head.

"Y-you're going to cut it?" She stepped away. "Why?"

"To keep you safe. Remember when one of the St. Johns grabbed you by your hair?"

The little girl nodded. "Yeah. That was scary."

"When I cut your hair, there's less of a chance of people grabbing you, walkers included," explained Lee. "I promise you'll look just as cute as before."

Clementine pouted but sat down in the chair in the room and allowed Lee to cut her hair short. When she touched her hair, she sulked. "I look like a boy."

"Of course you don't," reassured Lee. "Do you have anything to tie back your hair?"

"I have these," Clementine handed Lee two purple rubber bands. "Lilly gave them to me for sleeping."

Lee pulled her hair back into two pigtails. "There. Done."

Clementine's hat was placed back onto her head. "Thank you, Lee."

"No problem," He ruffled her hair. "By the way, there's something else."

"Are we leaving?"

"No, why do you ask?"

"Duck told me his dad said they're going to be leaving the motel soon," she said. "Are we leaving too? Duck said we are."

"Yes we are," He nodded. "It's not very safe here for you or me. For any of us. I was thinking of you and I heading to Savannah since that's where your family is."

"Really?" Clementine's eyes lit up. "Is Duck coming too?"

"I don't know where they're going. Maybe they'll come with. There may be a boat there."

"Kenny really wants to get on a boat."

"Yeah he does," Good thing there was a boat in Savannah for him. "I'm sure he'll find a boat there if he chooses to come with us."

She nodded. "So what did you want to tell me?"

"We need to teach you how to use a gun."

"A gun?" Clementine frowned. "Why?"

"To protect yourself," said Lee. "With the way things are now, it wouldn't hurt to know how to protect yourself from walkers or people that want to harm you. The earlier we start the better."

"I don't know. Guns are really scary."

"I know and I don't like that I have to do this, but it's for your own safety. Besides, you never know when you might have to protect yourself or even me."

"I see," Clementine still looked uncomfortable about it.

"How about we start tomorrow?"

"Okay," Just as Lee was heading for the door, Clementine spoke up. "Lee?"

"Yeah, sweet pea?"

"Is Ben coming with us?" she asked.

"Probably," He shrugged. He hadn't asked the teenager about coming. As far as he knew, Kenny hadn't asked him if he was coming as well. "I haven't asked him."

"What about Lilly and her dad?"

"I doubt it. Lilly doesn't want to leave and Larry likely doesn't to either. We'll probably have to leave them behind."

Lee and Clementine left the room with the girl running off to go play with Duck. Lee watched them play for a while until he felt like eyes were on him. Turning slightly, he could see from the corner of his eyes Larry's eyes right on him. What did this old bastard want? Part of him wanted him to approach the guy about why he was staring so hard at him. He knew Larry disliked him the most out of everyone there, but he hardly wasted his time watching Lee. The look on his face and in his eyes told Lee that Larry was silently accusing him of something. Did he think Lee had made some deal with the bandits? At this point, Lee wouldn't doubt it. He didn't care though. He'd be out of here as soon as Kenny got the RV running and he would be seeing the pair again. At least he hoped so. He honestly didn't want to put up with Larry at all.

The next day, Lee reenacted the lesson he taught Clementine on the train with a few empty glass and plastic bottles. The two of them went into the woods and used a fallen log to place the bottles on it. It took a while but soon Clementine was about to shoot a couple of them.

"Good job, Clementine," said Lee patting her head.

"Do I have to start carrying one?" She asked as she handed back the gun to Lee.

"Not at the moment you don't," said Lee. "Maybe when we go out together, yes. For now, you don't have to."

"Okay," She paused. "Is Duck going to learn?"

"I've talked to Kenny about it, but he hasn't gotten to me yet. I hope Kenny teaches him." When they headed back, Clementine went to go coloring and Lee searched for Carley. She wasn't outside so he headed to her room and knocked. He didn't hear an answer. Where was she at? He went downstairs and asked Katjaa if she had seen her. When she said she hadn't, he went over to Kenny and asked.

"Nope. Been too busy with the RV," He said as he continued to work on said RV. "She's not in her room?"

"No and I haven't seen her anywhere else either."

"Well she's gotta be somewhere."

Lee left the man alone and went to ask Lilly. Lilly told him to come inside and he entered. "Did you want something?"

"I was wondering if you've seen Carley anywhere?"

"She's gone off to hunt with Ben," said Lilly. "I don't know why she'd go off with him but whatever."

"Oh okay. That's all I needed," He began to leave when Lilly called out to him. "Yeah?"

"I need to talk to you about something."

"Um okay," He sat in the seat across from her. "What is it?"

"I think I know why the bandits attacked us," she said as she sat on the bed across from him.

"Oh?" Seems that she put two and two together already.

"Yeah. Someone's been taking supplies from us and at the same time the supplies have been disappearing, the bandits haven't tried anything." She explained. "I'm thinking they're connected."

"I've checked them and everything's there," said Lee. He knew where this was going and he didn't like it at all.

"I know, but I'm talking about the other one I've been keeping check on. That's the one being messed with or at least used to be. I'm guessing that once they stopped getting their stuff, that's when they decided to come after us because they needed their fix. Dad hasn't wanted me to say anything about it because he doesn't trust anyone. Hell he doesn't even trust the kids at this point."

"The kids?" Lilly told him that the older man thought they might be taking them for someone older in the group or even someone outside of the camp. "So what made you decide to ask me?"

"Because honestly you're one of the few people I trust here believe it or not," she confessed. "I know you wouldn't do it considering you have Clementine."

"Who do you think it could be?"

"I'm thinking the new guy."

"Ben? Why?"

"Because he's all alone, that's why. Just think about it. You have Clementine, Kenny has his family, and I have my father. Who does he have? Nobody. How do we know he doesn't know those people in the woods?"

"Well I..."

"And Carley's always with him. What if she was helping him? For all we know, she could know one of those junkies in the woods.

"Whoa now. Carley wouldn't do that and I don't think Ben would." While she was partly correct about Ben, he couldn't let her know this. He didn't want anybody to die if he could help it.

"You never know these days," She said stubbornly. "We need to keep a close eye on those two."

"Of course," said Lee. "I doubt either of them did it, but I'll just keep an eye out for anybody."

Lee left out of Lilly's room with him shaking his head. If Lilly kept thinking this way, he might have to help Kenny with getting the RV going and fast.


	5. Chapter 5

After dinner was over with, Lee saw Clementine off to bed. While he was tucking her in, the child again asked Lee if Ben was coming. "He can if he wants to. He hasn't said anything yet."

Now that he thought about it, Ben didn't get any say in coming or not in the alternate timeline either. You would think of all the talk of leaving that someone would either ask him or he would mention it to someone. He wondered what would have happened when they were actually preparing to leave. Then again he supposed he would be finding out sooner or later.

"I hope he comes," said Clementine as Lee finishing tucked her in. "I don't think he would like being here by himself."

"I'll talk to him and see what he says," said Lee. "Good night, Clementine."

"Night."

When he left out of the room, he headed to his own as he thought about Ben. He knew that Ben wouldn't want to stay at the Moter Inn with Larry and Lilly and he didn't blame the guy. Larry was already pretty damn aggressive towards letting the teenager in the group as he was just another mouth to feed. Lilly didn't like the extra either and when the group gets smaller, both would be a lot harsher on the poor kid. They couldn't kick him out though since they needed all the hands they could get especially with the group dropping down to three people. He'd be better off with him and Clementine in terms of safety. Also they would need him to watch the children when necessary. Then again maybe the kids would have to look after him. Maybe he should give Ben a couple of lessons about protecting himself as well as the others. He remembered when Ben had abandoned Clementine back in Savannah and the time that some old people beat the crap out of him. That had to be a low blow for the guy.

The next day Lee helped Kenny out with the car. When the man asked why he was helping him out, Lee told him it was to help them get away from the Moter Inn faster. Kenny appreciated the help and told Lee that he didn't have to. The teacher insisted that he help out since four hands were much faster than two. Lee knew very little about working on cars but assisting was better than nothing. As they worked on the car, Lee thought about asking Kenny about his wife's thoughts on leaving. He had always heard Kenny, Lilly, Carley, Larry, and Clementine's thoughts on leaving, but Katjaa's opinion on the matter remained unheard. Then again when it came down to decision making, Katjaa was usually silent with Kenny making all of the decisions. Whether it was to avoid adding onto the ongoing conflict between Lilly and Kenny or just because she didn't care or whatever else was up to speculation. Then again Kenny and his wife may have discussed leaving in private. He wanted to know what she thought anyways.

When Kenny told Lee to go get him a wrench, the man stopped by the couch where Katjaa was sitting as she watched the kids toss the soccer ball they had back and forth. "Hey Katjaa."

"Hello Lee," She smiled up at the man before turning her attention back to the kids.

"Have you seen a wrench anywhere? Kenny needs it."

"I think I saw Lilly with one," she responded after thinking for a moment.

"Thanks. By the way, I need to ask you something real quick if you don't mind." He took a seat on the couch as well.

"Sure."

"What are your thoughts on leaving the Moter Inn?"

"Honestly, I don't think we should," The vet told him. "I mean I do think we should leave just not at the moment. We don't have the food and I don't think Larry and Lilly would be willing to just let us leave with much of the supplies."

He was glad he hadn't been the only one thinking about it. When they left the first time, they had been overwhelmed by walkers and hadn't had the time to grab anything. Now that the bandits were no longer an issue, for now at least, perhaps they should start gathering things for the trip ahead. But how though? "What do you think we should do about that?"

Katjaa took a quick look around the camp, presumably looking for Larry and Lilly. After letting her eyes roam around the camp a few times, she leaned over to Lee. "When you go out on a supply run, keep as much as you can for yourselves especially medicine. Keep any seeds you find, clothes, bandages, and whatever else you feel we'll need. I believe Kenny's close to fixing that old RV up so save as much as you can and hide it. Bury it if you have to."

"I'll keep that in mind and talk about it with Kenny the next time we go out," The former teacher assured her. She nodded and went back to watching the kids while Lee went to find a wrench. While they worked on the car, Lee told Kenny what Katjaa said.

"Way ahead of you," whispered Kenny. "I've got the medicine part down. I usually take a few bottles during supply runs just for when we leave the inn. I know Lilly would hold them for herself and her dad when we leave. When it comes down to your loved ones' health, you can't take any chances."

"I should get mad at you for withholding medicine, but you're not wrong," He remarked as he looked over his shoulder for any signs of Lilly or Larry. "She'd probably only give us medicine that's already about to run out and keep the rest for herself. Larry will make sure of that."

"And we're the ones that go in there the most," complained Kenny. "If anything, we should decide who gets the medicine and should make off with how much we need."

"I guess," He shrugged. Kenny had a point, especially since Lilly pretty much took over giving out everything and storing it as well. It was already bad enough that there was a rumor going around the camp that Lilly was giving out more to Larry and possibly herself. Imagine what would happen once the rest of them packed up and left in the RV.

"There's no guessin' in it, Lee."

"Try telling them that. On second thought don't. Larry might think we're going to take everything and leave them with nothing. We don't need anymore conflict than we already have."

"Or anything to keep us from leaving," Kenny closed the front of the RV. "I'm done for today. Thanks for the help, Lee. By the way, we really need to talk about the whole food thing as well when we go out."

"Right." As they parted ways, Clementine called out to Lee. She had Duck with her and had asked if Duck could learn how to shoot a gun as well.

Lee wanted to teach the boy and if he was his son, he'd do it in a heart beat. However Kenny would have a fit if he dared to teach his son without his permission. He told the former teacher he would think on it, but so far Lee got no word from him about it since. He could do it secretly though it might be hard to since Kenny and his wife were around. He asked Duck why he wanted to learn out of curiosity. Duck expressed that he wanted to be able to protect his mom and dad as well as himself just in case. While he did approve of Duck's need to protect himself and his family, he still couldn't teach him without Kenny's permission.

"I'll talk to him and see what he says."

"He's just going to say no," pouted the boy as he crossed his arms. "Mom already doesn't like guns and she'll tell dad not to let me get one."

"Actually getting one and learning how to shoot are two different things," explained Lee.

"Whatever! I still wanna learn!" said Duck. "What if instead of me getting grabbed, next time it's my mom and I can't do anything? Can't you teach me in secret? We can get up really early and..."

"Duck, no," refused the man. He hated to turn the child down, but if Kenny wasn't giving the thumbs up he couldn't do anything. "I'll tell you what. I'll keep trying to persuade your dad and we'll have to see what becomes of it."

Duck was visibly disappointed by not getting to learn which made Lee feel bad for the kid. He couldn't afford to lose Kenny's trust especially when it came to his son. If he knew he could get away with it, he'd teach Duck how to shoot a gun. He supposed he could speak to Kenny now that he wasn't working on the truck.

He was sitting on the same couch with his wife so he called out to him. Kenny excused himself before coming up to his friend. "What's up, Lee?"

"So have you thought about it?"

"What are you talking about?" questioned the fisherman. "The supplies?"

"No! Teaching Duck how to shoot!"

"Oh that!" He rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah about that...I dunno man. I spoke to Katjaa about it and she nearly had a heart attack."

"You spoke to her about that?" Lee frowned as he crossed his arms. Oh so now he cared about what his wife had to say. (1)

"Don't take that tone with me!" He frowned right back him. "If Duck's running around with a gun, she'll throw a fit!"

"Then don't give him one to run with!" He rolled his eyes. "Look, Kenny. I know Duck's your kid, but I don't want to see anything happen to him. By protecting himself, it lessens his chance of getting bitten or grabbed."

"Why don't you tell her that then?"

"Fine I will!" Maybe he could explain it better to her than Kenny could.

Meanwhile Duck and Clementine were back inside of Duck's room hanging out. The young boy was still upset about not being able to taught about using weapons. Ever since Clementine had told him about how Lee taught her, he instantly wanted to learn as well. It was no fair she got to learn and he didn't. He wished Lee was his dad so he could learn as well. He knew his mother didn't like guns, but they had to have them in order to protect themselves.

"I can't believe Lee won't teach me too," Duck said as he bounced the ball against the wall of his bedroom. "This is so stupid! What if my mom or dad gets hurt or those cannibal guys come back?"

"Lee says they're dead," she said as she drew a picture of a tree. "They can't come back."

"But what about walkers? They're still around!" He had a point about that. There were a lot of dead people running lose. She hoped her parents hadn't run into any and they were safe somewhere.

"Your dad can shoot them."

"He's not going to be around forever," Suddenly the brunette got an idea. It was incredibly sneaky and they could get trouble for it, but it was the only way he was going to learn. "You can teach me!"

"Me?" Clementine had thought about being a teacher when she grew up. However being a teacher and teaching someone to shoot were two different things. Should she teach him? It always pleased her to be able to show someone how to do something especially those older than her. It seemed all the grown ups knew and did everything and she loved being able to prove her usefulness in any way possible. Was proving her worth to the group worth getting in trouble with Lee and Kenny? What if they found out and Lee didn't take her to find her family? No Lee wouldn't do that to her. Still...

"Yeah! You're pretty good, aren't you?"

"Well Lee said I was doing good, but..."

"Good enough for me!" He grinned. "Come on, Clementine. Teach me! You'd be the coolest kid ever!"

"I dunno..." She hesitated. "I don't want Lee to get mad at me."

"Then don't let him find out! We can just go off into the woods and do it!" He suggested. They didn't have to go too far. They could go into the forest across the inn early in the morning, get some practice in for a few minutes, and hurry on back before anyone saw them. It was the perfect plan! Clementine instantly shut down the idea since she saw flaws with his "perfect plan."

First off every morning they had someone on watch and she highly doubted they would let them leave the inn's grounds. Second there were walkers in the woods and they would become attracted to the noise. What if they got surrounded or one of them grabbed them? Third what if there were more bandits? They would want revenge for losing their friends and would likely go after the kids. Fourth they needed guns. After every practice, Lee took it back. Nobody was going to just give her one just because she or Duck asked. She had overheard the adults talking about low supplies and saving ammo. So even if they were allowed to practice, ammo was limited and that likely meant no more practice.

"Then we'll just have to be sneaky then," said Duck getting a mischievous look on his face. The young girl became uncomfortable with this implication and told him that if he got caught stealing a gun, she was going to pretend to know nothing about it and she wouldn't save him.

Just then the two heard a knock on the door. Duck went over to the door and opened it. It was just Lee at the door. He had just spoken to Katjaa about giving Duck shooting lessons and she said she'd think on it. Duck just smiled at him.

"That's okay Lee," He shrugged. "I know you tried. It's okay though. I'll just learn when my parents want me to."

"Oh really?" He felt like something was off the way Duck said that but said nothing before leaving. He had thought for sure he would be disappointed again, but he took it that time rather well. He wasn't planning on teaching himself was he? Then again how could he when Duck didn't have access to a gun? He ended up just shrugging the idea off as there was no way Duck could get one. He was probably just plotting on how to get his parents to teach him. Yeah that was it. After all Duck wasn't a sneaky kid.


	6. Chapter 6

To Ben's amazement, he was granted the responsibility of guard duty once more. He wasn't going to turn the opportunity of helping out with one of the things the older people in the group did. Babysitting the kids was a boring task and he felt like he could be doing so much more than just sitting around with the kids just about all the time. Just as the teenager was getting ready to climb the RV, he heard a door open and shut. Now who could be up at 5:30 in the morning? To his surprise, it was Duck. As soon as Duck saw him, he waved at the older male and ran over.

"Ben, I need to talk to you!" He said as soon as he came over. He would have called out to him from at his room door, but he didn't want to draw attention himself.

"Okay, but can you make it quick?" Ben looked over towards Lilly's door. "I'm supposed to be on watch and I can't have her getting on my case."

"Sure, yeah. Whatever." said Duck dismissively. "I need a favor from you."

"Um okay," Ben wondered what on earth the kid was doing up this early to ask a favor for? Whatever it was, it had better be short and quick. "What's up?"

"I need you teach me how to use a gun," said Duck.

"What?"

"Look I know I'm much too young, but I want to learn just in case." Duck then began to beg. "Please, Ben? I promise I won't tell my dad and I'll find a way to convince him to take you with us!"

"I dunno..." For one thing Ben barely knew how to shoot himself let alone teaching someone else how to. Secondly, he didn't want to get on anyone's bad side let alone Kenny's. He had been overhearing the others talking about leaving the Moter Inn for the longest time, but nobody ever asked him if he was going. Well everyone except Carley. He wanted to come along but was unsure if he could go. She assured him that he was more likely to be invited along since there was more than enough room for the teenager and he hadn't done anything to piss off Kenny. While that was true, the brunette still felt as if he might have to earn his way onto the RV. He also felt like if Kenny wanted his son to learn how to shoot, Ben would be the last person he'd ask.

"Come on, Ben!" he continued to plead. "You're the only one who will teach me!"

"Go ask your dad."

"I can't."

"Well I guess you're out of luck then," Just as he was about to once again climb up the ladder, what Duck said next stopped him right in his tracks.

"You know it would be a shame if Lilly found out what you did..." Ben quickly turned back to the child. Did he just say what he thought he just said? Please let him be hearing thigns just this once!

"W-what are you talking about?" He stammered. He hoped he wasn't about to say what he thought.

"How you stole those drugs out of Lilly's stash." He said quietly. Ben's face went pale. How on earth did Duck know about that?

"I-I did n-no such thing!"

"Then why are you stammering for and why is your face all pale?" Duck had been kidding when he had said it before. He had overheard Lilly talking with her father about the missing medicine. He figured if he fake blackmailed Ben, he'd give in. After all, Ben just seemed like an easy target just because he was new to the group and he'd be willing to take any chance to stay. He was surprised Ben would actually pull something like that to the often frightening Lilly. Lilly was always strict with everything they owned and would rarely ever let Duck near anything. With how Lilly watched the supplies like a hawk, he wondered how Ben of all people got into it without anyone seeing him. Ben was a lot sneakier than he thought he was. He always thought Ben to be a clumsy and quiet guy who wanted to stay on everyone's good side just to stay. Now he was starting to see the older male in a whole different light.

"Fine, I'll help you, but you better not tell your dad or mom or anyone else," said Ben. Duck didn't even question what the hidden or else vibe coming from Ben, but he didn't care. Besides its not like Ben could do anything.

"Great! When can we start?"

"Not now because Lilly'll kill me if I leave my post. Tonight."

"Cool! Leave the gun part up to me!" Without even waiting for a response, Duck took off to his bedroom. As the teenager climbed the RV, he wondered if this was worth it to not deal with Lilly and how the younger male was going to get a gun.

Duck went back into his bedroom and tried thinking of a plan. He had been glad luck was on his side with Ben. He knew it wasn't a nice thing to do, but he had no other choice. Clementine and Lee hadn't been any help, though Lee was more than Clementine. He'd make it up to the teenager one of these days. For now, he'd be holding this over his head until the lessons were done. He felt some guilt but reminded himself it was for a good reason. It wasn't like he was going to tell anyways, unknown to the older male. He was rather fond of Ben and he had always wanted an older brother. He knew if he told, Ben wouldn't be allowed to stay anymore. As long as Ben thought he was going to tell, Duck would be fine, right?

Now for the hard part. How would he get a weapon? His dad had one and so did his mother although he was yet to see her use it. She wouldn't know if it went missing, would she? If it were his father, he would know it was missing and suspect Duck of taking it. He'd just go into his parents' room, take his mom's gun, go off with Ben, and then return it before Katjaa even knew it was gone. He had done things like this before, but that was with trival things compared to a gun. Where would he put it though? Lee and his dad would put their's in the back of their pants but the brunette didn't think this was such a good idea for him. He'd just carefully hide it under his shirt and hide it. Now that he had a plan, now to wait until his parents weren't around.


	7. Chapter 7

When he noticed his dad going back to fixing the RV, Duck went into his parents room only to find his mom still inside reading a book of poetry. When she noticed her son, she smiled at him. "Hey, Duckie. Did you need something?"

"Uh n-no! I didn't need anything! Just seeing where you were!" He smiled back at his mother. On the inside, he was scowling. What on earth was she doing inside? It was her room, but still though, she was normally outside either watching him and Clementine, talking with one of the other adults, or patching up someone.

"I'm not feeling too good, so I'm in here today." said Katjaa. He tried not to let a look of disappointment come on his face, but he failed to keep it from slipping. Luckily it didn't cause any suspicion with his mother. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. Just go on and play, sweety."

He thought about leaving for a bit and then coming back to tell her that his father wanted her. However he wasn't sure how much time that would give him to look for the gun. After all, she could have hidden it somewhere other than her drawer. He went back outside and headed back downstairs where Clementine was coloring. She told him hey but didn't look up. He sighed loudly until she looked up at him.

"Could you please not breathe so loudly? I'm trying to draw."

"I'm in a bit of a dilemma."

"What?"

"Mom's in her room and I can't get her gun," He explained.

"You shouldn't steal from your mom," frowned the younger child. "Besides she might need her gun."

"Mom never does," Clementine was about to bring up the bandits but Duck interrupted her. "I need you to distract her long enough for me to look for it."

"No way!" She glared at him. "I'm not getting in trouble for you!"

"Please?" He begged. "If you do it, I'll give you the cookies I've been saving."

"Do it yourself. I don't wanna get in trouble. Besides you could just wait."

"But then I wouldn't know if my mom or dad's coming!" Clementine ignored him causing him to storm off. Some help she was and he thought they were friends. Then again he did put a worm down her dress recently and tossed a fake snake on her once. She was probably still mad about that.

Duck figured a different plan would be the better option. He could either ask Ben to steal him one like he stole the medicine or wait until his mother left. But what if his mother never left? Duck didn't want to wait until tomorrow to learn. Those bandits could be coming back for revenge at any time now! What if a horde of walkers came their way and he couldn't protect himself or his family? You always had to be prepared for anything in a world where everyone was willing to hurt each other just to survive and the dead were coming back to create more of themselves. The sooner he learned the better. Maybe Ben could get one from Lilly! He stole from her before and he could do it again.

When he told Ben this idea, he refused at first until Duck kindly reminded him of what he was holding over his head. Relucantly Ben went over to Lilly's room and instead asked for a pistol. There was no way he was stealing a gun of all things. Food was a bit easier to get away with. If a gun went missing, everyone would know and then Lilly would think a bandit or someone associated with them stole it. Then the person who was suspected would for sure either die or be put out of the group.

"Why do you need it?" she asked giving him a judgemental glare.

"I just want to look for food, that's all," he lied. If he told her he was using it to teach Duck, she'd tell Kenny or refuse to give him a gun.

"Fine, but give it back as soon as you're done," said Lilly.

Ben thanked her and quickly left out of her site. Now to get this thing over with. It was much too early to go out and practice. Someone might see them now. However Duck had a change of plans. He told Ben as soon as he went outside the gates to wait in the woods next to the Moter Inn and Duck would would signal him with the sound of a duck. Ben was nervous about going anywhere alone without Carley, Lee, or even Kenny having his back. Sighing he left and went to the woods. He waited around 10 minutes before he heard the sound of Duck's voice going "Quack!"

"It took you long enough!" grumbled Ben. Without even giving him the chance to explain himself, he said, "Let's just get this over with before those things come or we get killed by someone else."

"Right!" grinned the little boy. "How do we start?"

"First we should find something for you to shoot at," Ben took a look around area. There were only trees, sticks, and stray pieces of garbage. He could hold up the pieces of paper he saw but he was afraid that was far too dangerous. "How about a tree?"

"A tree?" Ben took out that piece of pink chalk and attempted to draw a dart board on it. When that failed, he just decided to put small points on a different tree.

"Now hold it steady and..." Duck managed to hit a mark perfectly on the tree. "Uh you got lucky."

Then Duck proceeded to get lucky a lot more times with very few misses. It was enough to make Ben jealous as he was a horrible shot compared to the rest of the adults in the group. Now some kid much younger than him bested him. Duck looked up to Ben for his much needed approval.

"How was that?" He grinned up at him.

"It was okay," He shrugged trying not to let his disappointment show. "We better head back before anyone realizes you're gone."

"Yeah I left those sheets hanging out the window," said Duck as he handed it back to Ben. "Hold on a minute, I gotta pee. Don't look!"

"I wasn't going to!" Ben said as Duck took off to go find a private place to go.

While doing his business, Duck's eyes shifted around for walkers. Ben wasn't that far away though but it couldn't hurt to check. Just as he was finishing up, he heard a very faint cough in the bushes behind him. It couldn't have been Ben as he was in front of him and walkers couldn't cough. Could they? He looked in the direction it had come from and stared. He wanted to investigate but a part of him was warning him that was incredibly stupid and dangerous. He stayed away though he wondered who it was. It could either be one of the bandits or someone else. Whoever it was, they weren't going to get him. He quickly headed back over to Ben and told him they had to leave.

"Did you see someone?" the teenager hoped not. They only had one gun between them and they couldn't tell any one what they had been up to. If someone was watching them, they might be dangerous. He wasn't taking that chance.

"I think I heard someone cough and walkers don't cough!" The two agreed they needed to hurry back just in case whoever it was is trouble. Ben went through the front entrance while Duck climbed up his sheets. The door was still locked and nobody was in his room either. Good. If anybody asked, he had taken a long nap. Today had been pretty successful, but who was that coughing in the woods? Duck thought about telling his father, but then he might get mad at Ben and not allow him to come with them. Then there was the fact that Ben would likely tell his father about him learning how to use a gun. He decided to keep quiet about what he just heard and pray Ben didn't open his mouth about it either.


	8. Chapter 8

Much to Lee's excitement, the RV was about ready to hit the road thanks to Lee lending a hand with it. Lee wondered why he hadn't started helping the older man a long time ago or even in the other life. The RV was coming along quite nicely and would be ready to hit the road soon and possibly even as soon as tomorrow. While they were working, Lee asked Kenny where they were going next.

"And saying '...somewhere with water' doesn't count as an answer, Kenny," said Lee as he remembered Chuck's words of wisdom. They had to know where they were going as well as having a plan. They couldn't just improvise the whole time. "Are we going to stop anywhere on the way?"

"How the hell should I know?" said Kenny. "Don't have a map. Probably just going to keep driving until we find somewhere better and a new car."

"New car?"

"Yep. Don't think this thing will last very long," confessed Kenny. "After that, the gas'll run out and we'll be on our feet."

"Fine with me," Lee shrugged. He knew there was a train up ahead they could use anyways. So gas or not, they had a mode of transportation. "We just need to load up and get the heck out of here. Whenever you're ready of course."

"I say we jump in the day after tomorrow. I just want to make sure we have everything. I've had enough of this run-down place to last a lifetime. We should gather up whoever's goin' and get the hell outta dodge."

Lee already knew who he was taking with him. Clementine without a single doubt in his mind was coming along, Carley for sure, and Ben as well. Then there was the troublesome decision of inviting Larry and Lilly. Kenny obviously wasn't asking either of them as the pair was starting to butt heads even more so than before. He wondered if it had something to do with Lilly suspecting that Kenny may have taken the supplies before. He had a motive for it to be honest. With him being such a family man, he'd probably get give the bandits medicine in order to keep them from hurting or killing his family. Whatever the case was, they couldn't keep this arguing up. They needed to stand together against this dangerous world. If only they could get it through their thick skulls.

He went off to Clementine's room and told her they when they were leaving.

"So pack up everything you're going to bring with you," he told her. "Make absolutely sure you have everything as we won't be able to come back for anything."

"Okay, Lee," Clementine nodded. She was surprised they were leaving so soon, but she was also pretty grateful for it. Maybe now they could get to her parents now! She hoped so. She missed them dearly and it was killing her not to know how they were doing. She just hoped they hadn't gone anywhere and were safe and sound. "Is Lilly coming?"

"Uh I'm not entirely sure," The last time she came, it ended badly with Carley dying and then Lilly was left to an unknown fate after that. He wondered what happened to her after that. Did she turn, die, or was she safe somewhere? He supposed it didn't matter now since this was a different path he was taking. Hopefully on this path, Carley didn't die.

"Is Ben coming?"

"I'm pretty sure he is," said Lee. He still hadn't asked him just yet. He'd better ask him before Kenny was ready to get going.

"What about Carley?"

"I'm pretty sure she is too," said Lee. There was no way she was getting hurt this time if he could help it. Nobody was getting their hands on any kind of weapon before getting in that RV. "Speaking of Carley and Ben, I'd better tell them to get to packing as well."

"Okay. I'll see you later, Lee."

Lee left her be and headed over to where Ben and Carle were talking. "Hey, you two."

"Hey, Lee," Carley looked up at him. "What's up?"

"I came to tell the two of you that the RV's ready to go," said Lee. "If you're coming, pack your things and get them ready for the day after tomorrow."

"I thought Kenny would never get that thing working," said Carley looking over at the vehicle. "So we're finally doing it, huh? Going out on the open road to only god know's where. I'd say its a bad idea, but it's a lot better in comparison to staying here. This place is falling apart. We were just talking about those leaks in my bathroom and in his closet."

"Good thing I don't have any other clothes." said Ben. "So uh where are we going?"

"Well I was thinking Savannah," said Lee in a matter of fact voice. "It's near the water so we'll have plenty of fish to eat. Besides, that's where Clementine's last were. We could be hitting two birds with one stone."

"It's better than having no destination," the brunette shrugged. "Do you think we'll make it there on the RV?"

"Maybe. If not, we'll find a way eventually. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to talk to Lilly about coming with us."

"Do you really think she'll come?" asked Ben. Every time someone brought up how unstable the Moter Inn was getting, she kept saying they'd fix it or how little of a deal it was. This place was falling apart since they had none of the proper tools nor experience to fix majority of the problems the rooms had. Someone would wind up getting hurt one of these days. Besides, the walls wouldn't protect them forever. They'd probably be better off going else where.

"I don't think so, but she doesn't have a choice."

"What do you mean?"

"Would you want to stay at a here with only two people?"

"You have a point." Carley thought for a second. "Lee, when you have a moment, can we talk in private later?"

Lee already knew what she wanted...or at least he had a good guess in mind. She either wanted to talk to him about his secret or maybe this trip. Either way, he was prepared for it. "Sure. Now if you two will excuse me, I guess I'll go ahead and try to convenience Lilly to come with us."

He headed over to the woman's bedroom. He pressed an ear up to her room just in case Larry was inside. He would rather talk to the woman alone about this. He really didn't have time for Larry's mouth at the moment. He didn't hear anything that indicated Larry was inside, so he knocked. To his relief, Lilly was alone.

"Oh hey Lee," she seemed relieved for some reason. "It's only you."

"Were you expecting someone else?"

"Sort of," She shrugged it off. "Come on inside."

Lilly took a seat on her bed while Lee sat across from her. "So what's up?"

"I came to tell you that Kenny and I are just about done with the RV. Just a few more adjustments and she's ready to hit the road." Lilly frowned at this news.

"So you'll be leaving then, huh?"

"Yep and I want you to come with us." For whatever reason, Lilly looked surprised. She really shouldn't be though. Lee didn't hate Lilly, though the whole shooting Carley thing was still tapping on the back on his brain. However this time, he was hoping it would be a different story.

"Really?" Her frown then returned as she crossed her arms. "I'll bet  ** _he_  **had something to say about it."

"He doesn't really care," he shrugged. He hadn't asked Kenny about Lilly coming but then again he never said anything about leaving her behind. If he had anything to say about her coming, he'd try to convince him otherwise. "But forget about him for a minute. Just come on with us. I know it won't be easy out on the road, but it's a hell of a lot better than staying here with low walls, vengeful bandits, and a camp with more problems than we can handle."

"I...I appreciate the offer," She sighed. "But..."

"It's Larry isn't it?" He frowned. "Well you can tell Larry I hope he has fun defending this huge Moter Inn with only 2 people and see how quick he changes his mind. We're going and that's final Lilly. This place has run its course and it's time to move on."

"You're not giving me much of a choice are you?"

"I'm not forcing you to come," He shook his head. "I'm just giving you and your dad the option."

"Well I guess we're coming too," She sighed. She knew that without Lee and the others to help defend the Inn, there was no way in hell they could withstand a walker or bandit attack. She believed they had a good set up at the Inn, despite all the problems with it. They had a roof over their heads, didn't they? Of course Kenny had to convince Lee otherwise. If anything happened to them out there, she'd put it on him for constantly wanting to go.

"Glad to hear it. We're leaving the day after tomorrow so we can be sure we have everything."

"I'll tell my dad. He won't be happy to hear it, but..." she cut herself off and shook her head.

Well that went a lot easier than expected, he couldn't help but to think. So everyone was coming on the road with them. Now to make sure nobody got killed this time around. He noticed Carley sitting by herself as she read through a book she had. Well he may as well get this part over with before they left.


	9. Chapter 9

"You want to do what?!" Larry stared at his daughter as if she had just mooned him. Just yesterday she was talking about how fortunate they were to have the Moter Inn and now she was talking about leaving. It was all because of that bastard Lee convincing her. He had told his daughter and even the bastard himself to stay away from the other. Yet here the fucker was talking to his daughter about leaving a perfectly good place. Who cares of the ceilings leaked or some of the roof was starting to fall apart? None of the others had gotten hurt as a result of anything falling off the buildings. They survived this long. They'd have a better chance surviving here than out there.

"Dad, I know what you're thinking, but we have no choice."

"He threatened you didn't he?!" he accused.

"What? No!" Lilly was aware of Lee's past, but so far he proved to be a nice guy and a lot more trustworthy than most of the people here. Despite her telling her father this, he would hear none of it and constantly kept an eye on Lee. She couldn't help but to think there was more to that story anyways. "Lee just said that the RV was ready to go and gave us a choice of coming or not."

"This is so fucking stupid!" grumbled the old man. Of course they had to come too. There was no way the two of them would be able to defend the camp. As much as he hated to admit it, they needed the others. "I swear if anything happens, it's on those two bastards' heads for this."

Lilly was relieved her father saw it their way as he stormed off to his own room. She hadn't wanted to go, but with just her and her father, they didn't stand a chance. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad on the road. Maybe they'd find a good stopping point and live there. Life was just full of "maybe's" though not enough of "certains" especially not now. She hoped Kenny knew what he was doing by dragging them all out onto the open road.

Meanwhile Lee was speaking to Carley. Just like before, she brought up talking about his past. He agreed to tell everybody about his past though he figured Clementine already knew and he didn't have to say a word about it to Larry since he knew the older man knew for sure. Just like before, Carley gave him a small peck on the cheek which reminded Lee to act on his feelings for the woman. The last time she had gotten killed before anything had happened. But that could wait.

Going downstairs, he went over to Clementine who was drawing a picture of a bunny. "What do we have here?"

"It's a rabbit," smiled the child as she held up the picture. "I saw one yesterday going across the road. I hope he's okay."

'If anything he might be someone's lunch,' he couldn't help but to think rather grimly. "I came to talk to you about something."

"What is it?"

"Before I met you, I was on my way to prison," he explained to her. "I had killed someone."

"Was he...bad?" she asked.

"Yeah, but he didn't deserve to die for it," said Lee. It had been an accident when he killed the man. He was just so full of anger at seeing his wife lying with that bastard, he just saw red.

"Oh," Clementine didn't seem to know what to think about what he just said.

"Do you have anything else to say?"

"No."

"Okay, I'll let you get back to your work." Just as he started to leave her be, she spoke up.

"Lee, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

She seemed to be thinking this over for a moment. "I was wondering...if it's okay with you...could we got to Savannah maybe? I know it's probably out of the way, but..."

"Well it's your lucky day, Clem," he smiled at the child as he patted her head. "That's exactly where we're going."

"Really?" Clementine's eyes brightened at the news.

"Yes really." As long as Kenny kept going straight on to the right of their camp, they were going the right way. He wasn't looking forward to the girl seeing her undead parents, but she needed to know. It was going to hurt, but he'd be there for her when they saw them.

"Can we look for them?"

"Whenever you're ready." He kept on the smile, making sure not to let it falter in the slightest at the memory. After all, after they saw the two as walkers, Clementine had somehow managed to drag him into a safe place where she then had to leave him at Lee's command. ''Not this time though. I won't get bitten this time around and that bastard won't get a hold of her."

The rest was mostly a breeze. Katjaa was shocked the news but appreciated that Lee told her. She never would have expected that Lee of all people would kill someone, but she could see how that would make someone him snap. Still, she wouldn't treat him any differently before given how she did trust him and he was a nice person. Kenny shared with Katjaa's reaction of Lee killing someone but understood and even admitted that he probably would have done the same if he came upon something like. Ben was amazed Lee would share something as dark as that with him of all people and promised to keep it a secret. He was secretly pleased Lee would trust him with something like this since he was rarely trusted with anything important since he arrived.

Next up it was Lilly. He knocked on the door to her room and came inside. She was packing up some of the food supplies inside of a large trash bag. "Oh hey Lee. I was just finishing up here. Did you need something?"

"I need to tell you something," he said as he sat down.

"Sure," she sat down on her bed. "But if it's bad news, maybe save it for later."

"I was sent to prison before the plague."

She shook her head. "Shit."

"What?"

"Dad told me about you."

"So you know?"

"I didn't know what to know," she shrugged.

"Well it's true and I'm sorry."

"He treats you like shit, knew who you were, and you saved his twice. The last thing you need to do is apologize, Lee. So what you killed a guy, I bet he was a dick anyways."

"Well considering he slept with my wife, he was," he frowned at the memory. "Ruined my life."

"Good thing everyone else's got destroyed shortly, thereafter, huh?" Lilly gave him a small smile. "Misery loves company."

"I'd better get going. Gotta get everything situated."

"Yeah." she suddenly frowned. "That RV is going to last a while, isn't it?"

So far she hadn't seen Kenny give the vehicle a test drive yet. Even if it would crank up and go, there was no telling how far they'd make it before they reached suitable living grounds. If not, it's all the more reason to stay where they were until it was actually time to go, not just when Kenny felt like it. He was way too eager to live on the water.

"It should," said Lee. "If not, we'll just have to handle shit as it comes."

"I just hope we'll be able to. Just for the record, I still think this is a horrible idea."

"I'll keep that in mind," He rolled his eyes as he opened the door. It was her way of saying that she didn't want to be held responsible for any deaths or injuries that happened after they left. If anything did happen this time around, he could imagine Lilly yelling at Kenny for getting them to leave, Kenny shouting at her that he made the right choice, Larry siding with Lilly, and Lee being forced to side with either only to then have his relationship with the other grow more negative. Considering he was helping with the RV, he'd likely get Larry down his throat whether he sided with Lilly or not. Whatever happened on the road, it was time for smart decisions and not just thinking on a whim. This time, it was time to keep everyone in check including himself. He remembered what Carley had said about him being a strong leader. Maybe it was time for him to start taking charge for once.


	10. Chapter 10

When the next day came, Lee was helping everyone sort out their things. At least he was helping out with the little everyone had. The whole time everyone was shuffling around, Lee felt Larry's eyes on him the whole time. What the hell was he watching him for? It wasn't like he was planning on loading up everything in the RV and running off on everyone in the middle of the night. Speaking of which, this thing had to be under heavy guard. Given how they had stolen from that guy, he might either hamper their escape if he was watching them at the moment or maybe even steal the RV. When he brought up keeping watch, Larry immediately volunteered for the task. As usual, Lilly and Kenny ended up bickering, with Lilly defending Larry's right to look out for them and Kenny saying that Lilly didn't get to decide and he didn't trust Larry in the first place.

"Are you trying to accuse my father of something?"

"Maybe I am! You're always talking shit about leaving!" Kenny began accused the women. "Maybe he's about sabotage us leavin'!"

"What?! I wouldn't waste my time packing all this shit just to ruin your stupid RV!"

"Well maybe you're planning on stealing the RV and leaving us here! Seems like something you two would do since you're always looking after each other and sneaking extra piece of food to each other."

"You're one to talk!" Lilly scoffed. "I know for a fact you'd do anything for your family, including hoarding supplies from when you go out!"

"Who the hell told you that?!" Lee wondered the same thing. When Kenny told him that he was saving a bit on the side, just in case, they were alone. He highly doubted anybody followed them.

"So you were!"

"Will you two just shut the hell up already?" yelled Lee over the two. "Must everything results in the two of you going for each other's throats all the time. For pete's sake, you're both like children. Always squabbling over petty shit. Just let Larry look after the RV. Hell if you wanna join him, then fucking do it! We've got plenty of hands here to clear what we need to out. So stop wasting time and let's get our shit together, okay?"

Kenny and Lilly sent each other nasty looks once more before Kenny went to the RV while Lilly went to her room. Well that went better than expected. He figured maybe they realized they were burning daylight and decided to just do what Lee said.

"About time someone told them to shut up and they actually listened to boot." Carley shook her head. "I told you that you'd make a good leader. People listen to you."

"Yeah...well all except Larry," He rubbed the back of his neck. "No matter what do that do, I can never please him. Hell the asshole even tried to get me killed back at the Pharmacy and he still treats me like shit. Imagine what'll happen what'll happen on the road."

"Well if he tries anything, I'll have your back," she assured him as she gave him a small smile.

"Thanks," he smiled back at her.

"Well I better go make sure I get my things into the RV," she sighed as she looked over towards the vehicle. "I hope we have enough room for our things."

"We should considering we don't have much," The group didn't have much in the ways of clothes. Any they did could easily be packed in one bag. Everything else could be stuffed into the compartments and in other bags. "What all are you taking from here?"

"I took some of the sheets and towels," said Carley. "Never know when we'll need them."

"Good idea. I'll take a few out of mine and Clementine's rooms as well."

"Alright then. I'll see you later." The two parted ways with Carley going to her room and Lee going up to his.

Lee placed the towels into one of his bags as well as a blanket and folded the bed-sheet on his bed. Afterwards, he made sure to go to Clementine's room. The young girl was placing her drawing utensils into her bag as well as her papers. "You about done here?"

She nodded as she zipped up her bag. "I got everything."

"Are you sure? Today's the last day."

"I'm pretty sure," she put the bag on her back. "Could you check though?"

"Sure. I need to get some towels out of here anyways," he said as he opened up Clementine's bathroom door.

"Why?" she asked as she watched him take out the towels.

"You never know when we have to clean anything up," he said as he took them out. "Be it blood or something else. It'll also come in handy when we run out of bandages."

"Oh okay." Lee handed her the towels.

"Help me carry these down to the RV."

As the two headed over, Kenny was fiddling with the RV once more while Larry was standing over his shoulder. Kenny was clearly getting annoyed as Larry kept telling him what to do. Meanwhile Lilly was just coming from inside of the vehicle. She noticed the towels in Clementine's hands. "Good thinking, Lee."

"Actually it was Carley's idea," he pointed out. Lilly, for whatever reason, frowned at this.

"Did she?"

"Yep. Well we better put these away," Lee guided Clementine inside. He hadn't missed that look on Lilly's face and he could only guess why she frowned at the idea. He was willing to say that she was still suspicious of the woman. She just didn't know how wrong she was.

The rest of the day was spent putting everything away. Lee was ready to hit the road right away. Once in Savannah, he was hoping to get all of them situated in the town. Maybe they could start a little garden while setting up inside of the house with a boat. Speaking of which, Lee wondered what would happen once Kenny got a hold of the boat. The last time, there was going to be an eventual moment where they would have to figure out who would come and who would stay. Considering Duck and Katjaa were alive, it meant less room. This might be the time he parted ways from the man once more. At least the man would have his family this time.

After everything they could fit into the RV was inside, it was time for dinner. As they ate up, Lee spoke with Carley about them going on the road. "I really hope that old thing can take us far enough and won't just break down on us," she said as she took a bit of one of her apple slices. "Are you sure Kenny and you fixed that thing right?"

"I'm pretty sure Kenny knows what he's doing," said Lee. "I mean I don't, but at least I tried helping him."

"Do you think there's a lot of people in Savannah?"

"Could be. We won't know until we get there."

"Yep." The two of them sat there in silence until Carley continued. "You don't really think there's any boats there, do you?"

"What makes you ask that?"

"Because I heard Kenny talking about finding one and I highly doubt we'll find any. I really wouldn't get my hopes up for one, but he sure is."

Lee nodded, understanding Carley's concerns. With the dead walking around, it would make sense for people to hop on a boat to get away from them. Luckily there was one, but it could only hold so many people in it. Someone was getting left behind. "He's very intent on getting one. If there is any, it's probably won't fit all of us. If there is, I'll be surprised. I hope the town hasn't been picked clean. Maybe we can find some more food or at least some seeds to grow our own food."

"Growing our own food would be helpful," said Carley. "You know, I heard they have a pretty good coffee place down there. You think there's any left?"

Lee laughed. "If there is, I'll make sure I get a hold of it for you."

"I just might hold you to that." she smiled. "I could really use it. I think that's one of the things I really miss. Is there anything you miss?"

"I miss my folks."

"I miss mine too."

"You know, it's gotta be pretty hard to Ben," Lee looked over towards the teenager who was sitting with the children. "He hasn't the slightest clue where they are. Didn't he say he was on a trip with his class?"

"Yeah," Carley gave the teenager a worried look. "I doubt we're going to run into them anytime soon. I just hope for his sake they're okay."

The two talked about the different things they would do once they got into Savannah. The first thing was to find somewhere the 9 of them would live. Lee couldn't quite remember where the house they last stayed in was, but he'd sure as hell try to find it. It had a back yard that could serve as a nicely sized garden and the house would keep them out of the elements. If the house was too small, the other houses could be checked out. It would be nice to find Molly too. They'd likely find her sooner or later within Savannah. Maybe this time, he could convince the young woman to stay with them. When it came to survival she was pretty handy and he trusted her. Speaking of Savannah survivors, Lee decided to leave behind the old coots and Brie that lurked in the morgue. Screw those bastards! Vernon had stolen their boat and took off with it. Fuck that shit all together. As much as Lee was willing to help out others, they were exceptions.

That night, Lee volunteered to look after the RV so Kenny could get some shut eye for the long drive. Meanwhile Larry didn't want to sleep. He wanted to make sure Lee didn't pull anything. He made sure to let the younger man know then and there that he was accusing him of plotting to drive off and even added a new twist it, stating that he'd drive off and come back for Kenny in the night. Rolling his eyes, Lee told Larry he could stay if he wanted. He really didn't want to stay with the old bastard, but Lee didn't necessarily have a choice. He didn't really trust Larry either. For all he knew, Larry would pull off with Lilly in tow. He wouldn't put it past the bastard. Lilly would only follow suit because she always listened to him. Even if Lilly did come off as friendly towards him, he'd be willing to do anything for her father. Hell, even if they didn't drive off, Larry and Lilly might sabotage their escape.

To his relief, Lilly volunteered much to Lee's relief. He'd much rather stick with her. As they guarded the RV, she was the one who struck up conversation with him. "So you got any plans for when Kenny finds his mythical boat?"

"We're not going to fit on it," sighed Lee.

"What makes you think that?"

Lee wondered if he should tell Lilly about what happened before, but she might just think he was a nutcase. He just decided to just come up with the most logical reason. "Considering the land is full of walkers, people might think they can't swim and they're a lot safer on water. The only boats that are probably left are the smaller ones."

"That actually makes sense," agreed Lilly. "Too bad Kenny hasn't thought about it. I heard he can't wait to live on the water."

She smirked after saying this. "What a fucking idiot."

"Hey, give him some credit," frowned Lee. "It helps to have some kind of optimism."

"Hmph," she frowned at this. "So, if he somehow finds it, what then?"

"Probably stay behind," he shrugged. He saw no use in coming with Kenny on that little thing. As close as he was to Kenny, he didn't think it was a good idea to just run off on a boat. He'd rather take his chances in Savannah. "You?"

"More than likely the same. Room or no room, I'm sure the bastard'll leave us behind."

"He isn't now, is he?" he pointed out. Lilly didn't speak for a minute.

"I guess," the brunette mumbled. "Still, if there's limited room on this boat, I'm definitely getting left behind and I think I'd rather stay in Savannah than on a boat with him anyways. With nearby water, we should be able to have a good amount of food."

"Agreed." The two remained silent as they watched for walkers or any other sign of trouble. During this silence, he thought about the stranger. Considering he constantly made sure Clementine didn't have any kind of batteries in her walkie talkie, he doubted the man would find them in Savannah. Surely he wouldn't be as stupid as to follow right behind them as someone would see him sooner or later. If he did show up, he'd make sure he'd beat the shit out the man and show him what happens when you mess with his kid. His kid...Lee couldn't help but to smile at the thought. She was kind of like his own child in a way. He'd happily adopt her as his own though he may as well say that he already had. He just hoped this time around he could prevent the man from kidnapping her.

* * *

"Hurry up!" shouted Kenny back at Lilly who was coming from upstairs. "We're burning daylight, Lilly!"

"Don't rush me, asshole," she glared at him. "I just want to make sure everything's packed up. Ever heard of triple checking?"

"We've got everything, now come on!" Lee hadn't the slightest clue why the man was in such a hurry to pull off. Then again it probably had something to do with Kenny's urge for a boat and his dislike of being around the motor inn. Once she was inside, she sat over where her father was sitting along with Ben and Carley. Now that everyone was inside, the RV pulled out and headed down the road. The group sat in silence during the whole ride. A few hours later, Clementine tugged on Lee's shirt.

"Yeah, Clem?"

"I have to pee," she whispered.

"Can you hold it?"

"I've been holding it for a while," she pouted as she looked uncomfortable. "I think I'm about to burst!"

"Hold on, I'll talk with Kenny." He quickly got up and went to the front. "Hey, Kenny."

"What's up?" The man asked as drove while looking out for any signs of walkers.

"Can we stop for a quick second? Clementine has to go."

"Can't she wait?"

"Unless you want her to embarrass her by letting her go pissing herself with no change of clothes, be my guest."

"Kenny, just stop the vehicle," piped up Katjaa. "It won't hurt to stop the car for a quick potty break for the kids. After all, you wouldn't give anybody time to go before we left."

"Fine," he sighed. "Just make it quick, okay? And while you're back there, tell everyone if they have to take a piss to go now."

Once they stopped the car, Lee took Clementine off to go relieve herself. They went farther away from the RV to give the kid some privacy where Lee turned his back on her whil searching for walkers. He would have gotten Katjaa to go with her but she wanted him to come with her. As he wanted for her to finish, he heard familiar voices. It sounded a lot like Omid and Christa! Lee wanted to approach them but then remembered that he had to wait on Clementine. Once she was finished, he headed over towards them.

"Lee, where are we going?" asked Clementine. "The RV is that way."

"I know, but I hear something."

Upon seeing them, it was now just Omid with his back turned to them. He appeared to be poking a decaying rabbit. Right behind him was a walker just about to grab him. Instinctively, he shouted out the man's name without thinking twice about it. "Omid! Look out! Behind you!"

"Huh? Oh shit!" Omid swung the large stick he had and smacked the walker. It didn't seem to do much other than temporarily throw off the walker. Lee aimed his gun and killed it for him.

"That was close," he breathed in relief.

"Do you know him?" asked the little girl.

"Um sort of..." he rubbed the back of his neck as Omid came over.

"Thanks for the help dude!" the man grinned at him. Then he got a confused look on his face. "But uh have we met before?"

"Well uh..." Lee tried coming up with a good answer. What could he say in this situation? He hadn't known Omid and you just don't call out a stranger's name. It may come off as being a stalker.

"Omid, are you okay?" Christa came from out of the woods looking worried. "I heard shouting and...who're you?"

"Just somebody I met," said Omid before Lee could say anything. "He just saved my life."

"Right," nodded Lee. "I'm Lee and this is Clementine."

"Hi," she waved from behind her caretaker.

"Holy shit!" Omid couldn't help but to stare at the child. "Christa, it's an actual kid!"

"I can see that, Omid," she rolled her eyes at him. She looked Clementine and Lee over. "Where's her parents? Are they with you?"

"Is it that obvious?" He hadn't thought about it before, but now that he really thought about it Christa was the only person he'd met that hadn't mistaken the child for his.

"To me it is," she looked around. "So are you two alone or with a group?"

'Still the same nosy Christa I remember,' he internally shook his head. "A group and you're welcome to join us. We're on our way to Savannah. We have plenty of room in the RV."

"Sure the rest of your people won't mind you just offering up a free ride?" she rose a brow at the man. Even if this Lee guy was the leader, she doubted all of them would just happily let in two people willingly.

"Hey, maybe if we tell them that..." began the short man. Christa gave him a hard jab in the side and glared at him. "What the hell was that for?"

"We don't know these people," she hissed. "I don't want some strangers knowing our business."

"But we could use a group," protested Omid. Besides, the shorter male would love to travel for once off his feet and he expected the same of his girlfriend. After all, she was pregnant with their kid. Then again Christa hardly complained about her feet and would joke with him about maybe he was the one pregnant. The guy didn't seem too bad, with the only thing being the slightest bit suspicious was the fact that he knew the shorter male's name. How did he know that. Then he because even more suspicious when Lee spoke again.

"You know, we do have a vet in our group and she's pretty good at patching up people as well," said Lee. "She could really come in handy if, let's just say hypothetically, you were ever pregnant, she can help you out."

Christa looked taken back at this statement before giving Lee a judgmental look. Did he know she was pregnant? If so, how on earth did he know? She didn't look very big and she never brought up the fact that she was. "Who says I'm pregnant?"

"Who says you won't ever think about having a kid?" brought up Lee. Maybe he should go ahead and tell them he knew or rather guessed given the pregnancy symptoms she gave off and implications the two made the last time and even now. He really didn't feel like chasing the pair off. He just decided to be truthful with them since it really did seem like Christa might walk off with Omid.

"Why the hell would you care anyways?"

"Well because...and this may sound crazy, but I kinda know you two...from a previous life."

"Excuse me?" Christa frowned. Shit, he had better explain before she told him to back the hell off or ask if he had escaped from a mental hospital. He could tell she didn't believe him so far but she was in a minute.

"I know you two though of course you don't remember." he confessed.

"Oh great," she crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "I told you we should have went right. That way we wouldn't have run into an mentally ill man and probably some kid he kidnapped!"

"No wait! I know how to get you two to believe me!" said Lee. "Omid, you love Civil War history, you two have a cat, Christa's pregnant, and the only reason we met in that life was because you two were traveling on a bridge up ahead where a truck was hanging down and I had to shove Omid down since there was a herd of walkers behind us."

The couple was stunned by Lee knowing these things about them and didn't know what to think. They both looked at each other for a minute before excusing themselves. As they spoke in hushed whispers, Clementine grabbed her guardian's shirt. She was curious how Lee knew these people yet neither had ever met them before. "Lee, how do you know all that?"

"It's actually a long story," he said rubbing the back of his neck. He didn't want to tell the child about what happened before, but he figured she had to know sooner or later. After all it wouldn't be fair to tell two seemingly strangers and not her. "I got bitten and..."

Clementine looked terrified. She knew what it meant when you got bit and, like any sane person, didn't like the end result. She couldn't lose Lee. She was quite fond of the man and he reminded her a lot of her own father in a few ways. Just the thought of losing him brought her to tears. First Sandra and now it was Lee...he couldn't die. When did he even get bit?

"Oh no!" He quickly said as he noticed the girl starting to cry. "I meant in that life, not this one. Or dream. I'm not all too sure. Whatever it was, it sure as heck felt real. I got bit trying to find you. Some piece of...crap kidnapped you. Said he had your parents."

"D-did he?" she asked quietly.

"No..." Lee nearly told her that they were dead the whole time, but he kept his mouth closed. "He didn't. He said it to lure you in. There's no telling what he would have done if he had you and he'd actually killed me."

Clementine frowned at this revelation. Lee didn't know why he did it, but he asked anyways. "Clementine, you haven't be speaking to anybody with that radio have you?"

"N-no," she avoided looking at him when he said it.

"Clementine, tell the truth," he got down on one knee and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Look at me, Clem. You're not in trouble if you are. I just don't want anything happening you, okay?"

Clementine still didn't say anything. Lee felt very uncomfortable about her silence. She had spoken to him, but how the hell did she get batteries for her radio in the first place? He'd very tell take this up with the group about it. In the meantime, he was taking that radio from her as soon as they got back. He just stood back up and shook his head. He was hoping to put this off, but he had no choice but to find and show the girl her parents once they got to Savannah. If he told her now, she probably wouldn't believe him. It made him sick that he would trick a child in such a disgusting manner. Fuck that bastard and Lee was showing no mercy when he found him. He was as good as dead just like before.

"I don't know how the heck you knew all that stuff..." began Christa as she approached the man.

"I told you he could be psychic!" said Omid.

"Or a stalker," she frowned. "But since we can't prove either, let us meet this group of your's. If they're cool, we'll come. Otherwise we'll keep going on our own way, got it?"

"Fine with me," he shrugged.

He lead the couple back to the RV where Kenny was dragging away a walker with Ben and Carley was watching. She looked up when she heard Lee's voice called out to her. She breathed a breath of relief that he was okay since he had been gone a while. Who were these people with him though? When she asked, he only said he would explain it later when he could figure out how to tell her without sounding crazy. She rose a brow at the man's explanation but didn't press on about it. Lee introduced the pair to the group and flat out stated that they were coming with them.

"Who died and made you boss?" demanded Larry. "Last time I checked, you don't get to determine shit around here."

"Well I have a say," said Lee. "I'm pretty sure Kenny will let them come along with us."

"He doesn't get to decide on his own!" pointed out the much older man.

"Whose RV did you just jump into?" Lee was beginning to wish he had left Larry behind.

"Now what's all this about new people?" asked Kenny as he finally joined the conversation. Lee quickly pulled the man off to the side and quickly explained Christa's condition. Knowing that Kenny was a family man, he hoped to play on that side of him to get the couple access to the RV. To his relief, Kenny didn't have the heart to leave behind a pregnant woman. "Alright everybody get in."

"Are you fucking serious?! We don't know these fuckers!" said Larry.

"Uh right here, man," Omid raised a finger while Christa glared at the old man. She was starting to think this was a bad idea and was inclined to turn down the idea of coming because of the man's hostility and the nasty look the woman behind him was giving. As badly as they would need a group for the baby's sake, she didn't feel like putting up with anybody's bullshit.

"Just shut your trap and get into the RV, asshole," said Kenny. "We're burning daylight."

"But we don't know these people!" said Lilly as she thought about the cannibals. "They could be like those people at the..."

Lee flat out ignored them and gestured for them to get inside of the vehicle. Christa seemed to be about to decline the offer but Omid hopped on inside of the vehicle and sat down. Begrudgingly, she sat down beside him. At the first site of trouble, the two of them were leaving right away. Clementine and Lee took a seat beside the two while Larry and Lilly sat off in their seats. He could hear the two whispering but he didn't care. He owed the two for helping him out looking for Clementine even if they never actually did in this timeline.

Carley was the first one to strike up conversation with Christa and Omid about their survival methods so far as well as sharing some of their own experiences as well. Meanwhile Lee went up to the front with Clementine's radio. He had to warn Kenny about this creeping bastard. When he told him, Kenny reacted the same as he did but a lot stronger about it.

"Someone's been what?!" he shouted. "How the hell did the creep manage to do that?"

"I don't know, but we should watch out for him just in case." said Lee. "In the meantime, I'll be keeping this radio on me just in case the sick bastard tries talking with her again."

"I can't believe he'd tell a child that," frowned Katjaa. "Do you really think he has them?"

"Not at all."

"Well if we find the bastard, I say we kill the fucker."

"Agreed," said Lee.

Lee sat back down beside the child who stared at her radio in Lee's hand. She wanted it back, but judging by the look on Lee's face, she wasn't getting it back and maybe even not ever.


	11. Chapter 11

"For the love of fuck!" cursed Kenny as he slammed his fist down on the horn waking up everybody.

"What's up?" yawned Lee as he rubbed his eyes.

"There's a fuckin' train in the way!" he scowled. "I can't believe this bullshit."

"What now then?" asked Carley as stood up.

"I say we get on it," said Lee in a matter of fact voice.

Carley gave him an amused smirk. "And I suppose you know how to drive a train let alone get it started."

"Just give me a moment," Lee hopped out of the RV and went over to the train. Meanwhile Carley just shook her head and decided to go back to sleep. It was going to take a while

"I wonder..." began Omid rubbing his chin. He told his girlfriend he'd be back and went after the two of them. If Lee really was psychic, like he thought, then he would be able to get the train moving without thinking about it too much. The first place Lee went to was one of the train cars. Inside sleeping was Chuck holding an empty bottle of beer to his chest while he snored loudly. Before Lee could decide what to do, Omid podded him in the back. "So whose this guy? D'o you know him or rather did you?"

"That's Chuck," said Lee. "He's been living here for a while.

"Hey old guy!" shouted Omid starting the man. Lee shot a glare at Omid as the startled old man jumped up with a start.

"What the hell did you do that for?!" exclaimed the old man before holding his head. "Shit, my head! Gah. I knew I shouldn't have drunken it all. Either of you got an aspirin?"

"Do you live here or something?" Omid ignored him. He was a little too eager to see if Lee was right about the man.

"Pretty much," shrugged the man. "The name's Charles, but you can call me Chuck."

Omid gasped as his eyes widened. Chuck raised a brow at the short man. "Is your friend alright?"

"Ignore him," said Lee. "We were thinking of leaving on this train, but we don't want to just take it with you on it."

"Eh I don't care," said Chuck. "Even if I did, it's not like you can move the damned thing anyways. It's stuck and I haven't the slightest clue of how to work the thing. If I did, you wouldn't have seen me here. I'm lucky enough to find a meal or two a day. Here."

"How'd you get the beers?" Lee looked over to the mess of equally empty beer bottles scattered about in the train car.

"Somebody gave 'em to me," he said as he turned the bottle downwards to see if there was anything else left. "Said he didn't need it anymore. I wasn't passing that up."

"Well then, I guess I'll get the train started."

"Whatever." Chuck laid back down. "Just shut the door and don't come back unless you bring an aspirin with ya. Good luck starting the thing up."

"Don't worry, Lee has it all under control," Omid nudged the older man. "Right Lee?"

"Yeah sure."

Lee shut the door back and headed off to the front of the train to get the tools he needed. The whole time he worked on the train, Omid watched Lee in complete awe and only helped out when the man asked for his help. He knew exactly what he was doing which confirmed Omid's suspicious that either Lee was a time traveler or psychic. He hoped he was the latter. It would save them a lot of time and trouble like it was now. In record time, Lee had managed to get the train loose from the stuck car, find some animal crackers for the kids, and get the train up and running.

"I knew you were psychic!" grinned Omid.

"I wish," sighed the man as he climbed down from the train. "Omid, I'm not a psychic nor am I anything supernatural…I think. I died the last time and I somehow got a chance to come back. Don't ask me how or why. I just did thank god."

"So how'd you die?"

"I got bit when I found Clementine's hat," he sighed frowning at the memory. "Some guy took her and we all went on a hunt to find her. I did, but I don't know what happened to her afterwards. Maybe you and Christa found her. Maybe not. I was in the middle of turning...well until I woke up in time to keep everybody alive."

"How did everybody else die?" Lee then gave the man a quick run-down version of everyone's deaths.

"Geez, that's horrible. It's a good thing you practically saved everyone." He thought for a second. "Have you told anybody about your past life?"

"No, but I might have to," he shrugged. "We better go tell everyone the good news."

Once back to the RV, Lee told Kenny he had the train up and running. As expected Kenny was surprised Lee was back so fast. He expected the man to have been gone a lot longer. It didn't really make much sense for Lee, a guy who didn't know how to fix a car, to be able to get a train running. Then again a car and a train were two different things so he decided to shrug it off for the moment. At least he didn't have to waste the gas on turning the RV and going a different way.

"I guess we better get going then," said Kenny.

"Oh and one more thing, we've got more company," said Lee. "We met an old guy named Chuck. He comes with the train."

"You just love bringing in more mouths to feed, don't you?" came Larry's voice from the back of the RV. Lee decided to just ignore the old man instead of give a retort. The more that old bastard spoke, the more he wanted to tell him to take the RV to where ever and fuck off. He really wanted to but somehow didn't. Once they got to Savannah, he'd hopefully be free from the bastard for good. With all the houses in Savannah, maybe he and Lilly would piss off to somewhere else in the city. If Lilly visited, he wouldn't mind. Larry was the piece of shit that was trying his patience.

"Everyone, get your things," said Lee. "We're getting on the train instead unless you'd rather stay in the RV and fuck off."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Larry glared a the younger man.

"You know good well what I meant Larry," With that Lee got off the RV and got his things out. Everyone else followed suit. Lee reopened up the train car and gave the man an aspirin bottle while quietly telling him to pretend he hadn't given them to him. If Lilly and Larry saw, they'd both would throw a hissy fit.

Larry gave Chuck a dirty look as his eyes shifted from his radgey clothes and the bottles that littered the floor of the train car. He was keeping an eye on him for sure. Chuck paid him no mind as he drunk out a bottle of water he had after popping the pill into his mother. Once everyone was aboard the train and the RV was emptied out, Lee started the train and off they started to Savannah. While Kenny took his place up in the front, Lee checked in on the group. Larry and Lilly were sitting as far away as possible from the newcomer, Clementine, Duck, and Ben were eating candy, presumably from Chuck like before, Katjaa was doing some reading, Chuck was fast asleep, and Carley was sitting beside Clementine. Once the girl saw her caretaker, she came up to him. "Lee, Chuck gave us candy."

"That's nice, sweetpea," he smiled at the child. "You doing okay back here?"

"I'm okay," said Clementine. "How long before we get to Savannah?"

"Probably a few more hours," he shrugged. "I'll let you know when we get there. Just sit tight and don't leave the car. It's too dangerous to go walk around outside the car."

"Okay," as she sat back down, Lee scooped up a map he noticed laying on the floor of the car. He left the car and headed back to the front of the train where Kenny was. Once up there, he and Kenny both agreed on stopping in Savannah since it was near water. They hadn't been planning on going there before, but since Lee knew they were going that way anyways, that's what he told people who asked. Now that Kenny was in on it, the two men discuss plans for their arrival.

Like before Kenny was intent on that boat. Even when Lee brought up the possibility of there not being one, Kenny wouldn't hear a word of it. He was stubborn with the idea that somewhere in Savannah there was a boat waiting for him. Lee just rolled his eyes and just decided to tell him his plans. He planned on finding a house for himself and Clementine to settle in, get a garden going if he could manage to find some seeds, and maybe find some clothes for Clementine. For food there was always fish.

"You don't want to come with us?" asked Kenny.

"If there is a boat, it's probably a small one. If it's big enough, I'll come." said Lee. "Otherwise, I'll make due with Savannah. I just hope I don't have to deal with Larry's bullshit anymore."

"You're the one who wanted to bring the asshole and his bitch of a daughter along with us," frowned Kenny.

Of all the people Lee had to bring along, he just had to bring the two he disliked the most in the group. As badly as Larry treated Lee and just about everyone else in the group, he would have thought he would have left the man behind. However considering Lee and Lilly were close to a degree, it was no surprise he'd invite Lilly. Kenny on the other hand would have left them both behind. Larry always wanted things his way and acted like a dick to everyone for no reason. Lilly constantly took over although nobody asked her to, she had such a bitchy attitude, and she would follow behind her father like a sheep no matter what. If they wanted to stay there so bad, Lee should have let them stayed there. With Savannah being a large city, maybe the two of them would fuck off somewhere where the two wouldn't have to deal with their bullshit anymore. He knew one thing was for sure, once they got into the city and found a boat, those two were not getting on.


	12. Chapter 12

As the train pushed forward, Lee decided to take Clementine off to the side to discuss their plans in private. After all if the group split up, it would be good to know where the two of them stood. Like Clementine said last time, they were a team after all. What started as a stranger taking care of a girl turned into a budding friendship over the months they had known each other. Clementine trusted Lee to protect and look after her and Lee could say the same given how she had gotten him out of a few tight spots in the past, such as with Sandra. As the two sat in the doorway of the train, Lee took out the map. "Look what I have, Clem."

"It's a map," she said as he opened it. "Oh! It's of Savannah!"

"Yeah and we're going to make a plan," said Lee. "It's best to know what we're going to do and where we're going to go."

"After we find my parents?" she said feeling hopeful. 

"Uh well…"

"We're still going, right?" she looked worriedly at the man. She hoped he wasn't going to take back what he said earlier about finding them. They were going right to Savannah. They couldn't miss out on the opportunity to look for them when they were right in the city. It was different before because they were in Macon. Now that they were in Savannah, Lee couldn't tell her they couldn't look now.

"Of course! I was just saying we should have a place to drop our things off to before we head out." He told her quickly.

"Oh! That makes sense," she looked relieved. She was thinking for a second they wouldn't go to find them. "Where do you think we should go?"

"Somewhere around here," said Lee making a circle gesture around about where he guessed the house they stayed in before was. He wasn't entirely sure, so he just gave an estimate. It had been a while since he had been there after all. "One of these should be big enough for a few of us to stay in."

"Including my parents?"

"Including your parents." Clementine smiled. "Afterwards, we should try finding some more supplies and maybe some fishing rods. Since Savannah is by the sea, we could start fishing for food and eat that. I know fish all the time will get tiring, but it's better than starving to death."

"Yeah. Lee, can I tell my parents about…you know."

"Sure," he shrugged. Originally he hadn't cared since he figured the girl would tell them anyways. Now he was just saying it to avoid saying anything about her parents. If he blurted out that they were dead, Clementine might not believe him. After all, denial was something everyone had to face at some point in their lives. He wouldn't be shocked if Clementine was in denial about her parents. "By the way, as soon as we get to Savannah, I don't want you running off, okay? Stick close to me. There's no telling what's out there."

She nodded. Despite the girl saying she would, Lee wouldn't be leaving her alone any time soon. Now that they were heading to Savannah once again, he wasn't leaving her alone for a second without someone keeping a good eye on her. Even then it was going to be with someone who would for sure keep an eye on her or up keeping watch. Maybe someone like Katjaa or Christa could watch her. He wasn't going to let that piece of shit kidnap his girl again. If he did, he was going to get thrown to the walkers or worse if Lee couldn't control himself.

Changing the subject, Lee asked the child what she thought would be in Savannah. "I hope more food. Is there?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because you lived before, right?" She had a point. Now that she was bringing it up, he hoped she wouldn't ask about her parents being alive or otherwise. He really didn't want to say. She might not believe him or at least want to believe him and run off with that man out of denial or hoping they weren't dead yet. As much as he wanted to hope the couple was alive, he doubted it. Her mother's last call sounded like it got bad for her too. How bad it was, Lee wasn't willing to find out.

"Well yeah, but we're leaving a lot earlier than we did previously," explained Lee. "There might be some left, but I doubt it. There's a whole community in Savannah…"

"So my parents could be there!" Clementine interrupted. With a large group of people, they must have taken refuge there. That meant they were likely still alive there!

"No, they wouldn't be," said Lee shaking his head. "That place is terrible. They kick out children, the elderly, and the sick. That or kill them. I doubt your parents would want to be in such a place."

"That's horrible," The child was in disbelief that such a place could exist. What kind of horrid person would turn away, kick out, or kill someone that was old, sick, or very young? She hoped her parents hadn't gone there and gotten sick or unable to work. Speaking of which, she really hoped they were okay somewhere. Maybe the Marsh House was their best chance of finding them. Hopefully they were still there and hadn't gone elsewhere. It has been close to a year since the whole walkers started being around. She hated to think that they headed back home or elsewhere while she was here heading onto Savannah.

"It is and hopefully we don't run into them." Lee didn't wish to run into them least they force them to hand over their supplies. At this point, Lee wasn't all too welcoming towards strangers he didn't know at this point...or at the last point. Well he knew what he meant. For now, every stranger would be treated with a lot more caution than before.

"Did we last time?"

"No. They had already fallen. If they already haven't, we should avoid them. They might not like competition for food. That or they may want to try something."

"Yeah," she nodded. She was somewhat tempted to ask Lee that if one of them were there, if he could ask if he or she had seen her parents. However, like Lee said, she was sure her folks weren't going there. A place like that, her parents couldn't be there unless they had to. Hopefully if they weren't there, they were still somewhere in the city, waiting for her.

Now that he had spoken to Clementine, Lee had decided to tell Kenny his long-awaited secret. He figured since he could easily trust and depend on the man above everyone else, he figured why not? He had already told Christa and Omid, who were complete strangers at this point. He should tell his friend, who is this reality, knew him better than the couple. He would get around to telling the others but only in due time. If he revealed to them his past life, people might want to hear what happened to them. He immediately knew that was a horrible idea. The group's current attitude towards each other was already bad enough. If he was forced to reveal what he knew or tricked into doing so, the group would become even more dysfunctional than before. He just wanted come up with a better lie or at least wait until everyone was out of each others hair before revealing anything.

He headed up to the front of the train and entered. Kenny peered behind his shoulder for a moment before turning his attention back to the train tracks. "Hey Lee. Everyone doing okay back there?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "I just got done talking with Clementine about our plan once we get to Savannah. She wanted to look for her parents right away, but I managed to convince her looking for a place to settle first would be the best thing."

"Should be plenty of abandoned houses," shrugged the man. "Maybe some other survivors. Whatever is up there, I hope there's enough good boats."

"I wouldn't get my hopes up."

"Not you too," groaned the older man. It was frustrating to hear yet another person doubting him. Lilly had already shot the idea after overhearing him and Katjaa talking about it. Then, to make things worse, even his wife didn't have his back. Now it was Lee. "There has to be some boats left! We just have to hurry up and get there before they're all gone!"

"Actually that's what I wanted to talk to you about," began Lee.

"Don't even say it Lee!" He frowned. He didn't want someone else adding onto the constant doubt he was getting. He already heard the conversation many times from his wife already. Ever since everything wasn't going to be handled in a few days like they originally thought, the boat plan quickly seemed less probable to his wife. There had been many a night where Katjaa doubted they would be able to get on a boat let alone on Kenny's boat as it was likely it was taken. Stubborn as usual, Kenny ignored her pleas to come up with something else and wanted to concentrate on fixing up the RV to head to Florida for his boat or some other boat.

"I was just going to tell you I know where one is," admitted the younger man. "But..."

"You do?" He frowned. "Then why the hell would you say that shit about...oh I see what's going on! You want to leave me behind! I can't believe you. After all the shit we've been through and the fact that I let you come with us, you want to abandon me. What the fuck, Lee? I thought we were friends!"

"Cool it, Kenny," He crossed his arms as he shook his head. "Let me at least finish what I was saying before you jumped to conclusions." He took a deep breath. "There is one reason I know of the boat and it's the same reason why I knew Christa was pregnant. You see...I-I was bitten..."

"What?!" Kenny looked up at the former teacher in shock. "When did that happen?"

"Again, let me finish," he rolled his eyes. He then explained his going back in time after succumbing to his walker bite. He explained how he had gotten bitten after Clementine was kidnapped by the stranger over the radio, their journey to find the girl, losing Kenny due to the man going down to put Ben out of his misery, and finally his waking up to find himself back at the Saint John's Dairy. "I know all of this sounds crazy, but it happened and I just thought it would be important for you to know so you won't try anything."

Kenny was quiet for a moment, seemingly taking in what Lee said for a bit. "Out of all the people in this group, you seemed the least likely to lose your sanity. I guess I was fuckin' wrong." he said in an amused voice. "You haven't been hittin' the bottle, have you?"

"No!" As much as he would love a drink at the moment considering all the shit they've been through, he wasn't drinking dammit! Like Christa and Omid, he figured he would have to predict something. What could he predict? So far he had saved Katjaa and Duck from their doomed fates, from suicide and a walker bite in those respective orders, got Omid and Christa on board earlier than before, got Chuck, and...was there anything else? Oh right! There was the tanker. Hopefully the thing had been there before a while before they arrived. "I haven't had a drink in forever. I know what will get you to believe me without a doubt."

"Prove me wrong," he smirked. "If you can predict one thing, maybe I'll believe you."

"Up ahead there's a tanker hanging down and we have to cut it loose so we can get by," he informed him. "Clementine and I will head over to a train station to cut the thing down so we can go bye."

"Hm, if you say so Mr. Psychic," he shook his head.

"You'll see when I'm right," With that Lee left out of the train on down back to the train car. Hopefully he wouldn't be wrong about this and the wreck that caused the tanker to dangle down was there. If not, Lee feared anything that happened before would happen again and he wouldn't have someone to back him up. Kenny had already quickly assumed he was either insane or had been drinking. Once Kenny believed him, maybe he'd be lucky enough to get the others to believe him as well when the time came.


End file.
